OREANDA-NEWS. July 24, 2009. Dear friends,  I'm glad to take this opportunity to address you at Chulalongkorn University – the oldest and one of the most prestigious higher education institutions in Thailand. It is gratifying that your University is directly engaged in promoting friendly ties between Russia and Thailand: since March the Russian Studies Centre has been operating here, offering in-depth studies of Russian history, politics, economy and culture. I hope that in the near future another promising project will be accomplished – I refer to the establishment of the Russian Centre under the auspices of Russkiy Mir Foundation.

Although Russia and Thailand are thousands of kilometers away from each other, we have a good reason to say that our countries are neighbors in our common home – Asia and the Pacific. To a large extent, we share both huge opportunities and challenges relevant to the region.

Thailand is one of Russia's oldest partners in South East Asia. As early as in 1870s Siam repeatedly confirmed its willingness to establish official contacts with Russia. Commanders of Russian naval ships that visited Siam delivered letters from King Chulalongkorn to the Russian Emperor, which clearly expressed the intention of his Government to develop diplomatic ties, as well as trade and cultural cooperation with Russia.

Relations of friendship and confidence between our monarchs contributed greatly to the establishment of contacts between our States. In March 1891, during his world tour, Crown Prince Nicholas was received with all honours in Bangkok. Six years later, in July 1897 Nicholas II, already the Emperor, received King Chulalongkorn in Peterhof. That meeting resulted in an agreement establishing diplomatic relations.

The first bilateral document – Russian-Siamese Declaration on Jurisdiction, Trade and Navigation – was signed in 1899. Russian Government's support of Siam in its disputes with European powers, particularly France, helped the Kingdom to retain independence.

Many members of noble Siam families were educated in Russia. The King's son Prince Chakrabong studied in the Page Corps and the General Staff Academy, ranked a captain of the Russian Guards, and after his return home became a prominent politican, general and Head of the Thai Army General Staff. He contributed greatly to establishing military educational institutions and introduced a range of novelties in Thai Armed Forces, including Russian ceremonial dress for the Guards, which survived to this day. We treasure the memory of those bright and pathetic moments of our common history.

In the twentieth century, ideological differences caused a lengthy pause in the development of relations between our countries. This experience has once again demonstrated the negative effect produced by an ideology-driven foreign policy and the importance of avoiding such tendencies in the future. During this difficult period, however, our bilateral relations were still guided by fundamental values such as mutual respect and a wish to find, whenever possible, mutually acceptable solutions to emerging problems. The mid-1980s saw a gradual return of relations between our countries and peoples, based on friendship and mutual attraction, back to normalcy. The first ever visit of the Russian Head of State to Bangkok in October 2003 became a landmark event ushering in a new era in our bilateral contacts. The meeting of Vladimir V. Putin with His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej (Пумипон Адульядет) of Thailand and the negotiations that took place thereafter gave strong impetus to building special relations between Russia and Thailand and set the priorities for our long-term bilateral cooperation.

It was a great honor for us to welcome Queen Sirikit on her State visit to Russia in July 2007, during which she visited Moscow and St. Petersburg to celebrate the 110th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between the two countries. In November 2008, meetings between the leaders and foreign ministers of Russia and Thailand took place on the margins of the APEC Summit in Lima. Prasobsuk Boondech (Прасопсук Бундет), Chairman of the Senate of Thailand's National Assembly, visited Russia in 2009.

Sound development of the political dialogue has created an enabling environment for strengthening Russia-Thailand interaction in different areas. The development of the Joint plan of action on advancing cooperation between Russia and Thailand for 2009-2011 testifies to the maturity of our partnership. The joint plan became the first ever agreement of such a kind with the South-East Asian countries, representing a roadmap of priority areas and specific parameters of bilateral cooperation. We expect to sign this important instrument as early as this year at the fourth meeting of the Russia-Thailand Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation.

We have witnessed a progressive development of trade and economic ties between Russia and Thailand, a traditional backbone of our bilateral contacts. Thailand continues to be Russia's main trading partner in South-East Asia; despite the global financial crisis, our bilateral trade has reached in 2008 its all-time high of 3.82 billion dollars.

Real opportunities do exist for expanding our economic cooperation further. To this end, we should maximize the use of the two countries' capacities, including those of Siberia and the Far East, the regions of Russia that form an integral part of the APR. Russia's easternmost territories are a unique depository of natural resources, with its huge oil, gas, coal, timber, marine and mineral reserves kept in store for the present and future generations. This vast region has adequate transportation infrastructure, in-house scientific potential and a qualified labor force and overall tremendous potential for industrial development, making it possible to set up cost-effective businesses in a number of different areas, from oil- and gas-refining facilities to high-tech and knowledge-based industries. President Dmitry A. Medvedev and the Russian Government give special priority to the social and economic development of the East of our country.

One of our critical goals is to step up energy cooperation between Russia and Thailand. We are interested in advancing such promising projects as joint prospection and development of energy resources, construction and maintainance of oil and gas facilities, regular supplies of the Russian hydrocarbons to Thailand, construction of a regional facility in the Kingdom for storing, processing and trading in Russian oil and gas. Our experts are ready to provide assistance in carrying out your country’s plans to create a national atomic energy industry.

Scientific, technical and innovative cooperation between Russia and Thailand has a significant potential. The successful launch of the first Thai satellite THEOS from Russian launching site in October 2008 is an important achievement in this area.

We appreciate our humanitarian ties and cooperation with Thailand in the fields of culture and education. Preparations for holding the Days of Saint Petersburg in Bangkok are underway. We intend to continue the practice of granting annual scholarships to Thai students, through allocations from the Russian federal budget.

Tourism should be mentioned specially, being an important element of the whole range of the Russian-Thai relations. Every year hundreds of thousands of Russians visit the magnificent resorts of your country. I am certain that despite the crisis Thailand will remain one of the most popular holiday destinations for Russian tourists.

Cooperation between Russia and Thailand has various dimensions and great potential including international relations. We are pleased that Moscow and Bangkok hold similar views with regard to establishing a more democratic international system firmly based on international law and such principles as indivisibility of security in the modern world, equality, mutual respect and mutually beneficial international cooperation. Only such an approach can adequately respond to the emerging trends of the multipolar world order.

Our countries share the view that it is necessary to jointly respond to the global challenges and threats, to step up efforts in combating the proliferation of weapons of mass destruction, international terrorism, illegal trafficking in drugs and persons, arms smuggling and piracy. Thailand was the first country in South-East Asia to establish direct relations with Russia through our national Security Councils. Moscow and Bangkok have given a strong impetus to cooperation between the Russian and Thai Supreme Courts and the law enforcement agencies.

We are also united by the vision that today’s world has many faces, by respect for various development models and value systems. Both our countries understand the importance of advancing dialogue and partnership between cultures, religions and civilizations. As multireligious states, Russia and Thailand have a key role to play in this regard.

There is ample scope for cooperation between our countries in enhancing peace, stability and security in Asia Pacific. Russia supports an equitable and transparent security and cooperation architecture in Asia and the Pacific which is based on teamwork, universally accepted rules and principles of international law, which employs dialogue, consultations and negotiations as an instrument for dealing with sensitive issues. Such an approach is referred to as the "ASEAN way". This does not imply gaining military superiority, by increasing insecurity of other nations, setting military bases and military alliances in Asia and the Pacific or creating a regional missile defense system that could disrupt the strategic balance. We should move towards a collective architecture by using multilateral diplomacy and fostering links between regional organizations and fora, and, more importantly – through mutual respect and with due account of each other’s interests.

Russia stands ready to discuss and address a broad range of problems affecting Asia Pacific, both in bilateral and multilateral formats. Our country has much to contribute to regional energy security, cooperation in the field of transportation, counter-terrorism, prevention of emergencies and disaster relief. We have been working successfully on these and many other issues within different regional structures. Russia has just completed its term of Chairmanship in the Shanghai Cooperation Organization, while in a couple of years it will assume the Chairmanship in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC). The APEC 2012 Summit will be held in Vladivostok on the coast of the Pacific Ocean, that we all share.

I would like to reassure Asia-Pacific nations that Russia has long been and continues to be their good friend and reliable partner. During the period after the victory in the Second World War, to which our country made a vital contribution, it did a lot to promote nation-building and economic recovery of Bangladesh, Cambodia, China, the DPRK, India, Indonesia, Laos, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Viet Nam and others.

The new era poses new problems and presents tough challenges. Russia was among the first to come to rescue the States hit by the devastating tsunami in December 2004 – Thailand, Indonesia and Sri-Lanka – and provided considerable humanitarian assistance to Myanmar, which suffered most from Nargis Cyclone, in May 2008. Today, in the context of the global financial and economic crisis, Russia lends a helping hand to many countries experiencing economic troubles. These activities are carried out on a bilateral level and in accordance with decisions taken at G20 and G8 Summits, as well as through EurAsEC, which has established a specialized anti-crisis fund.

Russia and most of the Asia-Pacific countries, including Thailand, have similar views on the ways of mitigating effects of the current economic crisis and reforming the global financial architecture. We are prepared to address these issues in close interaction with all the States of the region and their associations.

We welcome the strengthening of the fruitful Russian-Thai cooperation within the existing APR multilateral mechanisms, such as the APEC Forum, Russia-ASEAN dialogue-based partnership and ARF. Thailand actively assisted Russia’s involvement in Asia Cooperation Dialogue activities and greatly contributed to preparing and holding the first Russia-ASEAN Summit in Kuala Lumpur in 2005. It has traditionally supported Russia’s participation in the work of the ASEM mechanism and East Asia Summits. In this context, I would like to note the positive outcome of the Russia-ASEAN post-ministerial conference and the 16th APR Session, which ended on Phuket yesterday, and to thank Thailand as the ASEAN Chairman for the excellent organization of these meetings.

We have good reasons to speak of the establishment of a new kind of Russian-Thai interaction based on pragmatism and mutual respect for national interests. We consider Thailand as one of our most important and promising partners in the APR, with whom we are prepared to further our cooperation in all fields and work together in the international arena, thus helping to build a more just and secure world.

I sincerely wish success to today’s students, who will assume important positions in politics, economy and business in the future, and will participate in efforts aimed at attaining new levels of development by your country and the entire region. I have no doubt that the further promotion of the Russian-Thai friendly relations will be a valuable contribution to the achievement of these goals.