Bangkok, 4 March 2005 – Foreign Affairs Secretary Alberto G. Romulo and Thai Foreign Minister Dr. Surakiart Sathirathai held talks today that focused on further strengthening bilateral relations.

The two foreign ministers agreed that there are very firm foundations for the further growth of relations between the two countries. “Foreign Minister Surakiart and I agreed that our shared values of democracy, freedom and fair and liberal trade provide firm basis and many opportunities for us to boost our cooperation.

One such area is cooperation in tourism promotion. “We agreed to consider how best to cooperate to complement each others’ tourism potentials.  We discussed the possibility of joint tour and travel planning and joint tourism promotion,” the Secretary said.

The two ministers also discussed efforts aimed at the further integration of the region.  Foreign Minister Surakiart, who is the ASEAN-backed candidate for United Nations Secretary-General, expressed his appreciation for Philippine support for the Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD), an initiative of the Thai government.

“Minister Surakiart also gave his full support for our own initiatives as co-chairperson (with Bahrain) of the ACD’s Working Group on Energy Security,” Secretary Romulo said.

Discussions also focused on intelligence exchanges and dialogue with a view to fighting terrorism.  Foreign Minister Surakiart also agreed with Secretary Romulo that promoting inter-faith dialogue is an important way to fight terrorism. “Inter-faith dialogue and dialogue among civilizations are of critical importance to fostering tolerance and understanding and breaking the tragic cycle of extremism.  Thailand continues to support our leading efforts in this area,” the Secretary said.

“We also discussed disaster warning and relief cooperation.  Minister Surakiart thanked us for our relief assistance to their tsunami victims and I supported his government’s proposal to establish an ASEAN Standby Arrangement for Disaster Relief and Emergency Response,” the Secretary said. “He also thanked us for being a charter member of the Thai-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Center. END
 

/jay