PRIME MINISTER THAKSIN:
Prime Minister John Howard, excellencies, press, today Thailand is very honoured to welcome Prime Minister John Howard of Australia. We had a very good bilateral and we';re ready to announce the Free Trade Agreement. Conclusion of the negotiation has been complete and we will go on with the process for the signing which will take another four or five months and it will be, I';ve been invited by Prime Minister John Howard together with some key ministers to have a signing and retreat in Canberra, maybe next four or five months and we hope that our APEC meeting tomorrow will contribute on the reform of APEC and also the substance under the (inaudible) of the meeting which will be contributed by our leaders of the 21 economies, including Prime Minister John Howard.
May I ask Prime Minister John Howard to give the announcement to the press please.
PRIME MINISTER HOWARD:
Well thank you very much Prime Minister, can I first of all thank you and the Government of Thailand for the hospitality that you';ve extended to me and my party and the wonderful arrangements that you have made for this APEC meeting here in Bangkok.
I am truly delighted that the Free Trade Agreement negotiations have been successfully concluded, it was an initiative that came out of our visit to Australia in May of last year and to have successfully concluded negotiations in such a short period of time is a remarkable tribute to our negotiators, and a very special tribute to the Foreign Minister and the Commerce Minister of Thailand, both of whom have played major roles and I also want in his absence to record my thanks to Mark Vaile, the Australia Minister for Trade and Alexander Downer the Foreign Minister for their roles but this is a very important step because what we have agreed upon will deliver very significant benefits for both countries, for Thailand and for Australia and it';s another illustration of the growing economic links between the countries of our region, Thailand has a rapidly growing economy and has made a remarkable recovery from the impact of the Asian economic downturn of 1998 and to bring together in this very important way the economies of fast growing Thailand and the strongly growing economy of Australia is a very significant step forward for both of our communities and it really is a demonstration of the spirit of co-operation in the region and the closeness of our two societies. I certainly would be delighted Mr Prime Minister to have you as a guest along with many of your senior colleagues and my senior colleagues some time I guess in the first half of next year after all the legal formalities have been completed and the text has been prepared but I want to thank again you Mr Prime Minister for the personal commitment that you';ve made because without that this would not have been possible and again to record my thanks and this will boost the economies of the two countries and it';s something that I personally welcome very warmly.
Thank you.
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