Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn on Friday attended the opening ceremony of a new Thai consular office in Nanning, capital city of south China's Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region.

Pracha Guna-Kasem, advisor to Thai's Foreign Minister told the opening ceremony that the establishment of the consular office will increase exchanges between Thailand and Guangxi.

"It will cement the friendship between the Chinese and the Thai peoples as well as to promote the bilateral cooperation in trade, culture, education and tourism," he said.

Prior to the ceremony, the princess met with Cao Bochun, chairman of the Standing Committee of the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Regional People's Congress.

Cao presented the princess a model bridge as a gift, noting that the princess's visit to Guangxi "is a bridge which connects our two peoples" and he hopes the two sides can further cooperate in both cultural and economic sectors.

Before Guangxi, she has visited Beijing and the eastern Zhejiang Province.

She will also visit the neighboring Guangdong and Fujian provinces.

Sirindhorn is making her 23rd visit to China since 1981.

(Xinhua News Agency April 10, 2006)