Thai prime minister wraps up visit to Vietnam (Roundup)

Hanoi- Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva wrapped up his one-day visit to Vietnam on Friday.
Abhisit met with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung and General Secretary of the Vietnamese Communist Party Nong Duc Manh.

He hailed the Vietnamese government for its economic growth of 3.9 percent in the first half of the year.

'I am very impressed by Vietnam's achievement,' Abhisit told Nong Duc Manh at the meeting.

Abhisit discussed a series of issues with his Vietnamese counterpart including economics, politics, bilateral trade, military matters, rice export collaboration, transport, tourism and the protection of the Mekong River.

The prime ministers agreed that trade between the two countries did not do well in the first five months of the year. Bilateral trade revenue was worth 1.9 billion dollars, down 30 per cent compared with the same period last year.

The two countries also discussed cooperation among members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) as Vietnam will take its turn to chair the regional bloc in 2010.

This year, Thailand is chairing ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.