24th June 2005:

The President Dr. Alhajie Yahya Jammeh continues his Asian tour with a meeting with the Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra in Bangkok on Friday.

At a state luncheon held at the Thailand government house in Bangkok, President Jammeh spoke about the need for developing and poor small nations to forge links with stronger ones so as to break the vicious
circle of poverty besetting their economies.

"For Africa and Asia to develop, we must put hands together to develop it". He said. He went on to say that if the two continents can work together and share experiences, poverty would be a thing of the past.

He emphasized that his visit to Bangkok is to build a bridge on which economic and bi-lateral relations could tread.

Prime Minister Shinawatra proposed a toss to the Gambian leader and delegation for taking what he called " a bold step " towards developing the Asia Africa accord signed in Indonesia, Jakarta last year. He said that his country is looking forward to entering into building strong relations with Africa.

The two leaders therefore agreed in principle to develop a Thailand – Gambia bilateral committee to work on strengthening social and economic relations between the two states.

As Part of President Jammeh's visit, he toured the Thai knowledge park at the Information, Communication and Technology center at the central World Plaza in Bangkok on Friday.

The center has a computer and IT training centre teaching students on software development, Web design, animation and other computer applications. It also has an online library where students and other citizens access the systems for academic purposes.

While President Jammeh visited the centre, the rest of the delegation Businessmen and the Agriculture Secretary went on their separate missions geared towards forging and entering into agreements with their counterparts in Thailand. They were exploring ways of creating partnerships with their counterparts in Thailand.

Meanwhile, the Finance Secretary Alieu Ngum and the Information and Technology Minister Amadou Scattred Janned have joined the group in Bankok last afternoon. They also have similar links to create with their departments.

The Presidential delegation left Bangkok this morning for a visit to the Kham Pran Farm in the Saraburi Province, about 150km North East of the capital Bangkok.

The Farm is an agricultural production and research centre. It conducts reach on mainly corn/maize and horticultural products. The 600 hectare farm is owned by a giant agricultural company in
Thailand, Crop Integration Business CP.Group.

The vice President of the Group who took President Jammeh on a conducted tour of the farm said they are involved in seeding nursing, processing and organic fertilizer production. The end product of the farm are sold out to farmers from who they buy raw materials for the production of refined and processed products such as corm milk juice for sale in the international market.

The aim of the project he explained is to improve the income of farmers through empowering them with new technologies and creating a ready market for their produce.

The tour concluded with an invitation from the Gambian leader for the company to visit the Gambia to explore possible areas of investment.