Thread: Australia's PM hails Thailand's first female prime minister

Thai PM opens "Thai Kitchen to the World" event to promote Thai food industry

Thai PM opens "Thai Kitchen to the World" event to promote Thai food industry

วันอาทิตย์ ที่ 27 พ.ค. 2555



SYDNEY, May 27 - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra opened the 'Thailand: Kitchen to the World' event in Australia to promote the Thai food industry while encouraging more Thai investment in that country.

The premier is visiting Australia from May 26 to 29 as a guest of the Australian Government and as part of activities celebrating the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between both nations.

Ms Yingluck earlier today met with 60 Thai businesspeople in Sydney to discuss and exchange ideas on trade and investment, as well as guidelines on how to promote Thai products in the Australian market.

Before presiding the ceremony, the prime minister provided a cooking demonstration on a Thai spicy salad which was well received by Australian media.

She gave a speech on her government's policy to promote "Thai Kitchen to the World," affirming Thailand as a major food exporting country that can contribute to food security under changing world condition, in which global warming and natural disasters may lead to food shortages.

According to Ms Yingluck, Thailand earns over US$20 billion from exporting food and is one of the world's leading rice exporters, while Australia is one of Thailand's main rice buyers at over 110,000 tonnes/year, with a growth rate of 5-10 percent annually.

She noted her hope that Thai food will remain listed as one of Australians' favourite cuisines, as it has consistently been ranked in the top-five in past years as popular food in the country.

The Thai government's "Thailand: Kitchen to the World" project aims to promote Thai food products, create awareness of food security concerns, and produce high-quality foods complying with international standards at competitive prices, with strategies covering the whole process from finding materials to add product value and aid distribution.

The Yingluck administration's main strategies include (1) expanding agriculture and food business, (2) adding value to agricultural produce with high-technology production processes, (3) supporting cooperation at regional and international levels, and (4) supporting Thai investments abroad, especially in building a network of Thai restaurant overseas.

The Commerce Ministry has worked on such strategies in many countries, including Australia, in order for Thai cuisine to be well known through Thai restaurants and department stores selling Thai food products worldwide, the premier said.

On Sunday afternoon local time, the prime minister visited Thai restaurants and Thai food importers at a Thai town area on Campbell Rd in Sydney. She will then fly to Canberra afterwards. (MCOT online news)

Thai-ASEAN News Network - Thailand, Australia Discuss Relaxation of Trade Barriers

Thailand, Australia Discuss Relaxation of Trade Barriers

UPDATE : 28 May 2012

Thailand has discussed trade relaxation with Australia and signed a deal with a leading Australian hypermarket chain to promote sales of Thai fruits.

Director-General of the Department of International Trade Promotion, Nantawan Sakuntanaga, disclosed that the Commerce Ministry has asked Australia to relax its hygiene regulations on shrimp and poultry imports from Thailand, as well as the requirement for Thai cooks to attain a high level of English language proficiency, especially in reading, speaking and writing.

The Commerce Ministry has also signed a memorandum of understanding with Australia's major hypermarket chain Woolworths, which has more than 1,600 stores across Australia, to launch promotional activities for Thai fruits, such as young coconuts and durians.

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, along with a number of government officials, is on an official visit to Australia since this past weekend to promote investor confidence and follow up on Thai-Australian cooperation in various fields.

The delegation is scheduled to return to Thailand tomorrow.

In turn, Australia has asked Thailand to revoke taxes on hot-rolled and cold-rolled steel sheets by 2015, as well as make excise taxes on large vehicles and off-road cars equal to those imposed on pick-up trucks.

It has also called on Thailand to remove the suspension of licenses to import cherries, apricots, plums, peaches and nectarines from Australia, and adjust the list of items under a special protection according to the existing free trade agreement.

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Ms Gillard says the visit is especially significant because Ms Yingluck is Thailand's first female Prime Minister and equally the puppet that Gillard is.

fixed it slightly.

from the blogworld ............................


A tale of two Prime Ministers
Andrew Walker
May 29th, 2012


Source: MCOT - English News

Yesterday, Australia’s Prime Minister, Julia Gillard, provided a warm and welcoming luncheon for Yingluck Shinawatra in the Great Hall of Parliament House.

A crowd of several hundred—politicians, diplomats, soldiers, business men and women, academics, students and members of the Australian Thai community—dined on coriander crusted beef tenderloin (with caramelised carrot spears), herb and pistachio crusted salmon (with truffle infused prawns) and plates of petits fours (chocolate dipped mango strips were the highlight!).

Prime Ministers Gillard and Yingluck entered the Great Hall after an evocative indigenous performance by the Wiradjuri Echoes.

Seeing the first female Prime Ministers of both Australia and Thailand standing side-by-side on the stage was, for me, a spine tingling moment.

As the respective anthems were played, it was impossible not to reflect on their very different political fortunes: one politically ascendant; the other struggling to maintain a tenuous hold on power.

Contrary to all the popular stereotypes of Thai politics, and the tumult of recent years, Yingluck’s beaming smile held out the hope of democratic stability, built on a foundation of electoral domination and adroit manoeuvring.

Gillard is no less pragmatic in her power play but, despite occasional spasms in the opinion polls , her impressive personal presence is overshadowed by profound electoral weakness and internal party turmoil.

Strangely, Thai politics looks rather more stable than the tumult in Canberra.

After toasts to His Majesty the King and Her Majesty the Queen (Elizabeth, not Sirikit), the speeches were warm, but restrained, affairs speaking of the 60-year history of Australia-Thailand cooperation.

Tony Abbott, the leader of Australia’s Opposition, was the most interesting as he mentioned, in passing, the two biggest elephants in the room.

His was the only utterance of the “T-word” when he noted that it was Thaksin himself who had signed the Australia-Thailand Free Trade Agreement in 2004.

Yingluck’s political future is, of course, bound with that of Thaksin and one can only hope that Australian officials felt sufficiently emboldened to sound her out on plans for Thaksin’s return to Thailand.

Abbott also unintentionally summoned up the great uncertainty in Thailand’s political future when he noted that Australia had contributed to the education of the Crown Prince both at the Kings School (in Sydney) and at Duntroon.

Education relations between Thailand and Australia are strong, but this may not have been the best illustration.

An interesting footnote was the brief visit of senior opposition figure Andrew Robb to the Prime Ministerial table where he paid his respects to Yingluck. Robb, a famed Liberal Party strategist, provided influential advice to Thaksin in the lead-up to the 2001 election in which he first won power. As Robb writes in his autobiography:

I helped Thaksin plan the creation of the political party called Thai Rak Thai … and then ran a series of campaigning seminars with senior members of the political team that he had already assembled. It was fascinating to immerse myself in the politics of an Asian country … and to have input into developing a philosophical base for this nationwide party.

That’s the sort of advice the besieged Gillard needs right now!

asiapacific.anu.edu.au

Yingluck is certainly quite the looker up against our horrible looking ranger.

two unelected female PM, quite interesting

have a feeling Yingluck will be around a lot Longer

Sheila Sinawatra has a wee bit of a ring to it. Did she get a root whilst she was there?

^
Not one female minister can get near her in the looks department and the male politicians that met here will be choking there chicken tonight.

They would all be drooling like fok.

Originally Posted by Sir Wilson

Originally Posted by StrontiumDog

Ms Gillard says the visit is especially significant because Ms Yingluck is Thailand's first female Prime Minister and equally the puppet that Gillard is.

fixed it slightly.

Applied PADitism slightly, you mean.

Reconcile your glamour boy being hoisted into place by his puppet master to Ms. Y.

Elections have any meaning for you Wilson?

Originally Posted by mingmong

have a feeling Yingluck will be around a lot Longer

Don't follow Australian politics, or the current status of PM Gillard. But one thing that I really appreciated her for, was how she belittled with Democratic political insight, the then Golden boy faux PM of Thailand.

He was elevated and thrust into unelected office by power-brokers, and was quite content to stay there without giving thought to electorally validating himself. To the contrary, he killed to stay there.

Then there was Ms. Gillard. She was also elevated into her Prime Ministership through irregular means, but she announced immediately that because the Prime Minister was a PM of the people, an election would follow within three months to validate herself.

No such qualms by the chosen one in Thailand.

The fact some of this stuff was occurring at the same time, the contrast was most enlightening.

Good for Australia and Gillard in that instance.

Don't let that big beaked dyke near your goodies Yingluck.