Viet Nam, Thailand look ahead to closer ties

What is meant when for Cambodia when Thailand and Hanoi make love? is it going to be sqeezed or will be stumped to death like the year 1975-1979.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej will pay an official visit to Viet Nam on March 24, looking to beef up economic ties, maximise the effectiveness of cooperative mechanisms and sign several cooperation pacts.

The visit is made at the invitation of Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung in accordance with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)?s norms.

Established diplomatic ties on August 6, 1976, the two Southeast Asian countries have enjoyed a take-off in the partnership since 1991. The bilateral ties have developed strongly after Viet Nam joined ASEAN in July 1995.

The two countries? trade also got a boost, seeing the rise of 21.3 percent to reach 4.8 billion USD in turnover in 2007.

Up to the present, Thailand has invested in 169 FDI projects capitalising at 1.66 billion USD in Viet Nam , mostly involving in industrial and construction industries.

As a result, Thailand is ranking the 22 nd out of 77 countries and territories, and the third among ASEAN member countries, investing in Viet Nam .

Besides, Thailand has actively worked to boost trade, tourism and investment cooperation between its northeastern provinces with central localities in Viet Nam . In 2006, more than 120,000 Thai holidaymakers visited Viet Nam and over 200,000 Vietnamese visited Thailand .

As the two major rice exporters in the world, the two countries have created a common rice cooperative mechanism to bolster the cooperation in the field.

Apart from bilateral cooperative ties, the two Southeast Asian countries have coordinated to promote cooperation opportunities in the West-East Economic Corridor, within ASEAN, the Great Mekong Subregion, and the Ayayewady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy.