Chavalit ends Singapore trip

Chavalit ends Singapore trip

SINGAPORE (Reuter): Thai Prime Minister Chavalit Yongchaiyudh left Singapore yesterday after a two-day visit aimed at boosting ties and eliminating what he called image problems, but giving no details of how either would be achieved.

Chavalit called Singapore "one of Thailand's most important economic partners" in his only public pronouncement during the state visit, an interview with Singapore's Straits Times newspaper Thursday.

Singapore is Thailand's most important trading partner in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which also includes Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines and Vietnam.

Two way-trade reached an estimated US$7.7 billion to US$11.5 billion in 1996. There are also about 50,000 Thai workers in Singapore, most of them in the construction industry.