PM Oli paying official visit to Thailand beginning April 1, first ever Thailand visit by government head

Kathmandu: Prime Minister KP Sharma Oli will be paying an official visit to Thailand from April 1 to 5 at the cordial invitation of his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra.

This will be the first ever official visit of the Prime Minister of Nepal to the Kingdom of Thailand, according to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.  The Prime Minister will be accompanied by his spouse Radhika Shakya.

During the visit, the Prime Minister will hold talks with the Thai Prime Minster and discuss various areas of bilateral relations between Nepal and Thailand.

Following the bilateral engagements, he will lead a Nepali delegation to the  Sixth Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral, Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) to be hosted by Thailand on April 4 and will address the Summit same day.

PM Oli is scheduled to hold bilateral talks with his counterparts from BIMSTEC member states on the sidelines of the Summit.

Despite long-standing friendly relations between Nepal and Thailand, the official visit by the Head of Government of Nepal to Thailand has not taken place yet.

The then Prime Minister of Thailand Prem Tinsulanonda had visited Nepal in 1983.  Tinsulanonda died in 2019.

The Prime Minister’s entourage will include Minister for Foreign Affairs, Dr Arzu Rana Deuba, Bishnu Prasad Rimal, the Chief Political Advisor to the Prime Minister, Dr Yuba Raj Khatiwada, the Economic and Development Advisor to the Prime Minister, high-ranking government officials, and representatives from the private sector and media persons.

The Prime Minister will return home on April 5.

The Cabinet on March 24 had endorsed the schedule of Prime Minister’s visit to Thailand.

According to Spokesperson for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Joint Secretary Krishna Prasad Dhakal, the visit is expected to contribute to further enhancing cultural and economic ties between the two countries.

The Cabinet has also endorsed the ‘Cultural Agreement Between the Government of Nepal and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand’ and ‘A Memorandum of Understanding Between the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Civil Aviation of the Government of Nepal and the Ministry of Tourism and Sports of the Kingdom of Thailand on Tourism Cooperation’ to be observed during the visit.

Thailand’s ambassador to Nepal, Suwapong Sirisorn paid a courtesy call on Prime Minister on Tuesday.

Nepal and Thailand established diplomatic relations in 1959.

The cultural and people-to-people relations between the two countries are considered to be older than 200 years.  Both countries are closely connected by the Buddhist philosophy as well.

Nepal-Thailand cooperation is getting escalated in culture, tourism, trade, investment, agriculture and human resource development among others. They also engage in areas of mulitsectoral relations.

The first ever visit by the head of the government of Nepal to the South East Asian country Thailand is expected to be of diplomatic importance.