BANGKOK, Jan. 11 (Xinhua) -- Prime Minister of the Czech Republic, Andrej Babis, will lead an official and business delegation to visit Thailand Jan. 15-17, the first-ever official visit to Thailand by a sitting prime minister of the country, Thailand's foreign ministry said in a press release on Friday.
During the visit, the Czech prime minister will have a meeting with Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha with a view to strengthening relations and deepening economic cooperation between Thailand and the Czech Republic, according to the Thai ministry.
Babis will be accompanied by a Czech business delegation of 48 entrepreneurs and executives from 40 leading companies covering a wide spectrum of industries, such as manufacturing, defence, automobiles, automotive parts, and big data.
They will participate in a Business Seminar co-organized by the Federation of Thai Industries and the Czech Confederation of Industry to promote business networking and matching between private sectors of the two countries. Czech businesses have expressed their keen interest in the Thailand 4.0 Policy, the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and infrastructure projects in Thailand, the statement said.
The Thai foreign ministry noted that the economic partnership between Thailand and the Czech Republic dates back more than a century through trade in machinery, automobiles and automotive parts. The two countries established diplomatic ties in 1974.
Although Thailand and the Czech Republic are situated far away from each other and there is no direct flight yet, there are approximately 50,000 Czech tourists visiting Thailand each year and roughly the same number of Thai tourists visiting the Czech Republic, it added.
