Mr. Surapong Tovichakchaikul, Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, is scheduled to visit the Russian Federation during 27 – 29 March 2013.   In Moscow, the Foreign Minister and representatives from 22 relevant Thai agencies will attend the 5th Session of the Thai-Russian Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation.  He will also lead senior executives from 5 science, technology, and innovation government agencies to meet Russia’s top scientists and researchers.  This is the first visit to Russia by a Thai Foreign Minister in eight years.
               Foreign Minister Surapong and Mr. Denis Manturov, the Russian Industry and Trade Minister, will co-chair the Joint Commission Meeting, during which a wide range of bilateral issues, including politics, economics, energy, science and technology, education and culture, will be discussed.
               The Foreign Minister will also meet with his counterpart, Mr. Sergey Lavrov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation.  They will discuss the Thai proposal to upgrade bilateral relations to a strategic partnership, reiterate the political will on both sides to deepen collaboration in various fields, and exchange views on regional and international issues.  Their discussion will also serve as a basis for Prime Minister Yingluck’s official visit to Russia later this year.  After the discussion, the two Foreign Ministers will co-sign a Plan of Consultation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for the years 2013-2015.
               While in the Russian capital, Foreign Minister Surapong will lead senior executives of the Thai science, technology and innovation agencies to meet with top executives of the Russian Academy of Sciences and other prominent research agencies to explore they possibility of collaboration and building a network between Thai and Russian scientific think tanks.
                Russia is one of Thailand’s oldest friends in Europe.  Both countries established diplomatic relations in 1897.  Since then, Thai-Russian relations have become much closer, with multi-faceted cooperation and regular exchanges of visits at all levels.  Russia is now Thailand’s largest trading partner in Eastern Europe.  In 2012, bilateral trade totaled 161,645 billion baht and Russia’s BOI-approved investments amounted to more than 1.1 billion baht.  Approximately 1.3 million Russian tourists visited the Kingdom last year.