Thailand’s Foreign Minister Dr. Surapong Tovichakchaikul met on Tuesday 24 April 2012 with Sweden’s Foreign Minister mr. Carl Bildt and on Wednesday 25 April 2012 with Denmark’s Foreign Minister Mr. Villy Sovndal. Both Scandinavian foreign ministers were visiting Thailand prior to the 19th ASEAN – EU Ministerial Meeting in Brunei Darussalam.
The website of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand shares little information about the meeting with the Danish foreign minister, exceopt that the two ministers exchanged views and agreed to enhance cooperation between the two countries at all levels.
On the visit of the Swedish foreign minister, the website shares more details of the talks.
“On the political relations, both sides agreed to increase an exchange of high-level visits, particularly at Prime Minister and Ministerial levels. In this connection, the Swedish Foreign Minister extended an invitation to Foreign Minister Surapong to visit Sweden,” it says.
The two ministers also discussed other pending agreements, such as Thai-Swedish Joint Plan of Action which covers all dimensions of their relations. Both of them expressed hope that the Plan of Action could be concluded and signed during the upcoming visit of the Swedish Trade Minister.
Sweden’s accumulated investment in Thailand has reached over $2 billion USD and a great many Swedish companies have a prominent presenxce in Thailand, such as IKEA, Ericsson and Volvo.
“Foreign Minister Surapong invited Swedish investors to invest more in Thailand. He said that the World Bank has ranked Thailand second in the list of countries with ease of doing business in Southeast Asia and 17th in the World,” the website says.
Approximately 400,000 Swedish tourists visit Thailand each year, which reflects the popularity of Thailand amongst the Swedish.
Furthermore, both sides discussed on developments in the region, particularly on Myanmar.
“Thailand sees the developments in Myanmar as positive and encourages international community to consider lifting sanction completely,” the Thai foreign ministry’s website says.
