Prime Minister, Ministers in the Government of Thailand, my fellow Ministers, Leader of the Opposition, parliamentary colleagues, Your Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen.
This is a parliamentary luncheon to welcome a visiting head of government with a real difference. The visit by the Prime Minister, accompanied as he is by no fewer than nine ministers in his government, represent in terms of the number of ministers taking part in the visit, the largest ministerial delegation that any Australian government has received here in Canberra. On behalf of all the Australians present Prime Minister, I want to thank you for the courtesy that you have paid to our country, the honour that you have paid, to bring so many of your senior colleagues with you.
Today of course saw the signing of the Free Trade Agreement between Australia and Thailand. This Free Trade Agreement represents a marvellous advance for both countries. Like all free trade agreements, they are never concluded in the first place unless they contain benefits for both parties. The benefits for Australia from the Free Trade agreement are strong equally. Our markets will be increasingly open to the goods and services of Thailand. Thailand is a fast growing, strong economy. The relationship between Australia and Thailand trade wise is represented by a trade comprising just under $6 billion on an annual basis and this Free Trade Agreement, which the Prime Minister and I put the finishing touches to when we were at the APEC meeting in Bangkok last year, will add mightily to the trade between our two countries.
For me it is another powerful reminder of how important is the region, the Asian Pacific region, and the economies of that region, to Australia's economic future. It is the responsibility of all Australian governments to make certain that in a difficult world trading environment, we take advantage of bilateral trade agreements and opportunities when they present themselves. In recent years Australia has been able to forge impressive economic partnerships with many of the different countries in our region and it gives me a very special pleasure to welcome the Prime Minister of Thailand to Australia on the occasion of our signing this most important agreement.
And although the main item on the agenda today was the signing of the agreement, in another sense the most important agreement that was signed was in fact the one that provided for working visas for holiday makers between our two countries, because what that agreement has done is to symbolise the very close personal relations that exist between the people of our two countries. It is also a source of great pleasure to me and to all of my Australian colleagues that Australia is now the preferred destination amongst Thai students who study overseas. And what that means is the reality, and that is the people of Thailand studying in this country are not only most welcome, but they feel welcome and feel very comfortable as our guests.
We have a close regional partnership with Thailand. It has grown closer over the years and the Agreement that was signed today will bring us even closer in the years ahead. We share similar perspectives. We understand the importance of freer trade, of more dynamic economic growth. We also understand the importance of our broader responsibilities. Thailand is a partner with Australia in the hard process of helping Iraq to a democratic future and of rebuilding that country's institutions after 35 years of a brutal dictatorship. We are also of course partners in the most dynamic economic region in the world - the Asian Pacific region. As members of APEC and as close colleagues in so many other respects and as two nations that have developed strong people to people links, it is a very important relationship, a very warm and a very friendly one.
The Free Trade Agreement that was signed today was very much the product of very hard and dedicated work from a number of people on both sides, and I take the opportunity of paying a special tribute on the Australian side to my colleague the Minister for Trade Mark Vaile, who has been very busy on free trade agreements over the past couple of years. And his interaction with Ministers Adisai, Surakiart and Watana at various stages from Thailand, laid the groundwork for the final agreement that was concluded in October of last year. I first visited Thailand long before I entered politics back in 1964. I found then as a relatively impoverished traveller that they were warm and generous and open people, and Thais who have chosen to make Australia their home and become Australian citizens are making a wonderful contribution to this country and I am so delighted that that warm relationship between our two countries has been taken several stages further through the signing of the Free Trade Agreement and all the other co-lateral agreements.
And to you Mr Prime Minister I pay a special tribute. You have given to the leadership of your country great energy and dynamism. You're a person who believes that the business culture and the entrepreneurial culture of a country is very important to its economic future. You have a very clear and progressive and positive view of Thailand's place in the region. You are willing to work in a practical way with many countries to secure agreements to the advantage of your people and you understand how important it is for the future of your country that as it grows in wealth, that that wealth be freely and fairly available to all of your citizens. With a formula such as that, your country has a great future. And it's a source of enormous pleasure to me that we can share some of that future with you and your people, and that together in the years ahead the people of Thailand and the people of Australia will tread a path and a journey together. And I hope in some small way, leaders of the future of our two countries will look back on the signing of this agreement and this day as having made a significant contribution to a partnership and a friendship that will get better as the years go by, and is very important to me, as I know it is to you.
Mr Prime Minister, I thank you. I wish you well. Thank you for bringing so many of your colleagues with you. And I now invite the Leader of the Opposition, Mr Mark Latham, to support my remarks. Thank you.
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