Prime Minister of Japan to pay an Official Visit to the Kingdom of Thailand from 17 - 18 January 2013

Mr. Shinzo Abe, Prime Minister of Japan, and his wife will pay an Official Visit to the Kingdom of Thailand from 17 to 18 January 2013 as guests of the Royal Thai Government. It will be the first official visit of a Japanese Prime Minister to Thailand in 11 years after former Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi visited the country in 2003.
The Prime Minister of Japan is scheduled to meet with the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand to discuss various issues covering bilateral, regional and multilateral cooperation, to promote the Thailand - Japan Strategic Partnership based on over 125 years of diplomatic relations, shared values of democracy and mutual interests. They will also discuss ways to contribute to the prosperity, peace and sustainable development of the region, through the ASEAN-Japan Dialogue Partnership which is celebrating its 40th anniversary this year, the Mekong-Japan cooperation framework and other regional frameworks, focusing on connectivity, community-building and cooperation.
Thailand and Japan are also important economic partners of one another, benefiting from the JTEPA (Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement). In 2012 (January - November), trade volume between Thailand and Japan reached 2.11 trillion baht, with Japan being the biggest trading partner of Thailand while Thailand is currently the sixth biggest trading partner of Japan. In terms of investment, Japan is also Thailand’s biggest source of foreign direct investment, with a total amount of 312 billion baht or 63% of total foreign direct investment in Thailand. Japan is currently Thailand’s third largest source of tourists, after Malaysia and China. In 2012 (January - November), 1,239,555 Japanese visited Thailand. And a total of 211,076 Thais visited Japan in the same period -- a 62.4% increase from the previous year. 
Presently, there are 40,957 Thais living in Japan, while 47,251 Japanese people living in Thailand.