Links between China and Thailand were strengthened Wednesday with the signing of an agreement on a host of issues of common interest.

Following the visit to China by Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, the two countries issued a joint communique.

At the invitation of Chinese Premier Zhu Rongji, Thaksin paid an three-day official visit to China which ended Wednesday.

During the visit he met Chinese President Jiang Zemin and other leaders, and held official talks with Zhu.

The two sides had in-depth exchanges and reached broad consensus on bilateral relations and international and regional issues of mutual interest. They declared the visit a complete success which helped promote the all-dimensional co-operative relationship of good-neighbourliness and mutual trust between the counties.

During their talks, leaders of the two countries expressed satisfaction with the progress and development of Sino-Thai relations. They agreed to consolidate the existing traditional friendship and work for strategic co-operation in the future.

The two sides reiterated their full support for the Joint Statement on the Plan of Action for the 21st Century Between the People's Republic of China and the Kingdom of Thailand, signed in Bangkok on 5 February, 1999. They reaffirmed the significance of the Joint Statement in guiding the future development of the Sino-Thai relations.

Both sides agreed that the China-Thailand co-operation in the political, economic, cultural, educational, public health, scientific and technological areas had yielded substantial benefits for both countries and their peoples.

They spoke highly of the positive role played by the China-Thailand Joint Trade and Economic Committee; the China-Thailand Joint Committee on Science and Technology and other co-operative mechanisms in enhancing the Sino-Thai co-operation in all areas.

Both sides underlined the importance of continuously expanding exchanges and co-operation between the two in the promotion of the comprehensive development of the bilateral relations.

The two sides expressed satisfaction with the achievements in the bilateral trade and economic co-operation. They agreed that trade and economic co-operation had become an increasingly powerful engine driving the Sino-Thai relations and would continue their commitment to launching new areas of trade and economic co-operation, actively promoting large-scale bilateral economic co-operation projects and expanding the bilateral trade and two-way investment on the basis of equality and mutual benefit.

Both sides reaffirmed their intention to bring the Swap Agreement between Thailand and China to an early conclusion, and agreed to further develop trade and cultural ties through sister-city relations between the two countries.

(China Daily 08/30/2001)