Thai prime minister off to Vietnam for Mekong talks (1st Lead)

Jul 10, 2009, 6:30 GMT

   Hanoi - Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva departed Bangkok Friday for a one-day visit to Vietnam to discuss the rice trade, tourism, transport links and protection of the Mekong River with Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung, officials said.

   The talks in Hanoi are also to focus on coping with the global economic crisis.

   In addition to talks with Dung, Abhisit, who is making his first visit to Vietnam since becoming prime minister in December, was scheduled to meet with President Nguyen Minh Triet and other high-ranking Vietnamese officials, Thai Foreign Ministry sources said in Bangkok.

   Topics for discussion include collaboration in the rice trade. Thailand is the world's leading exporter of the grain while Vietnam is ranked second.   

   The Mekong was also on the agenda as Vietnam faces threats to its ecology, food security and the livelihoods of its people as upstream countries like China, Laos, Thailand and Cambodia build major dams on the river.

   Laos, Thailand and Cambodia are planning 11 large hydropower dams, which Vietnam said would limit the deposit of silt, acidify agricultural land and decimate fish stocks, affecting hundreds of thousands of fishermen and their households.

   The Mekong flows through China, Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Cambodia before ending its journey to the sea in Vietnam.

   It is diplomatic etiquette for Thai prime ministers to visit the member states of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) soon after their appointments.

   Thailand this year chairs ASEAN, which also includes Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines and Singapore.