Thailand foreign minister to visit Phl

MANILA, Philippines - Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs Surapong Tovichakchaikul of Thailand will undertake an official visit to the Philippines and attend the 5th Meeting of the Joint Commission for Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) on June 20 to 21, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) announced yesterday.

Surapong will meet with Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert del Rosario, who paid an official visit to Thailand in April 2011.

The Thai foreign minister will also pay a courtesy call on President Aquino.

Del Rosario and Surapong would act as co-chair of the JCBC ministerial meeting on June 21, which will be preceded by a senior official’s meeting chaired by Foreign Affairs Undersecretary for Policy Evan Garcia and Thai Foreign Affairs Permanent Secretary Sihasak Phuangketkeow on June 20.

Among the topics to be discussed in the JCBC are technical cooperation, education, energy, law enforcement, and defense. The JCBC will also witness the signing of two agreements between the Philippines and Thailand on taxation and on the establishment of an energy forum.

The two countries hold the JCBC as mutually agreed.

It was created on March 24, 1992 to facilitate consultation and cooperation between the Philippines and Thailand.