Premier Li Keqiang addresses Thai parliament
Li starts three-day visit to Thailand focused on boosting economic ties
Premier Li Keqiang became the first foreign leader to address Thailand’s Parliament in more than a decade on Friday as he began a three-day visit aimed at strengthening ties and seeking business for his country’s high-speed railway technology.
Li told the lawmakers that Thailand and China will boost their trade to US$100 billion by the end of 2015 and that China will buy more Thai agricultural produce.
“In the next five years, China will import 1 million tons of rice from Thailand and will also import more rubber,” Li said.
Thailand’s government has struggled to sell much of the rice it has amassed in a rice-buying scheme that is a flagship policy of Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra’s administration. The scheme has accumulated losses of at least US$4.46 billion since it was introduced in 2011. Its inability to resell the high-priced rice on the international market allowed India and Vietnam to surpass Thailand in the value of their rice exports.
Thai rubber farmers also have staged a series of street demonstrations and blocked roads in recent months to pressure the government to shore up rubber prices, which have dropped since peaking in 2011 due to weak demand in a sluggish global economy.
Li, who became premier in March, is the first foreign leader to give a speech in Parliament in at least 10 years. House speaker Somsak Kiatsuranont said he granted Li “an opportunity to speak directly to the representatives of the Thai people” because his visit was an “honour”.