It is a very great pleasure, Chatichai ChoonhavanPrime Minister, to welcome you here to No. 10 Downing Street on your first official visit to Britain as Prime Minister of a country which is one of our oldest friends. We also extend a very warm welcome to Thanpuying Boonruen and the other members of your most distinguished delegation. You are honoured guests and we hope you will enjoy your stay in our country (applause).
The last time we met, Prime Minister, was during my own visit to Thailand in 1988, a visit of which I have so many happy memories. At the time, you were just about to become Prime Minister and you brought daunting experience to the task: as a military man, a career in which you achieved high rank; as an ambassador and later Deputy Foreign Minister; and in other senior Ministerial posts.
On that visit, I had the unusual pleasure of being greeted by two Prime Ministers—outgoing General Prem and the incoming General Chatichai. We cannot match that reception here (laughter and applause)—you have to go back quite a long way here to find a former Prime Minister! [end p1]
All of us who know Thailand are deeply impressed by the tremendous interest which Their Majesties The Bhumibol AdulyadejKing and Queen of Thailand take in projects to improve the life of people in the poorer parts of Thailand and we are very pleased that His Royal Highness the Crown Prince of Thailand is spending this year at the Royal College of Defence Studies, where many of our distinguished senior officers have themselves studied.
We are also very pleased that His Royal Highness the Duke of Gloucester has joined us for this lunch. I believe, Sir, that you have just got back from a mission to South-East Asia as Chairman of the British Consultants Bureau. We hope it was very successful and that a lot of new business is in prospect.
There is also a very special link unique the world over between Thailand and the United Kingdom. I will explain:
You, Sir, when you leave us, are going to Switzerland to visit the Queen Mother of Thailand who resides in Switzerland. It is her ninetieth birthday. Our Queen Mother was ninety this year. It has been a very good year for Queen Mothers! (applause) and perhaps you will take her our warmest affection and greetings when you see her on the next stage of your journey.
Prime Minister, we are very impressed by the way in which Thailand's economy has continued to grow very rapidly under your leadership. Indeed, it is one of the fastest-growing economies in the world. The success of Thailand and some of her neighbours—those who have stable democratic government and a market economy—is a lesson to the rest of the world of what can be achieved even without great natural resources. It is the quality of the people, [end p2] their enterprise and their determination to prosper which makes all the difference and I hope that Thailand's example will be followed in many other parts of the world.
Obviously, Britain wants to be associated with Thailand's success and several of our most important companies who have close links with Thailand are here at this lunch. We have a great deal to offer, both on the civil side and on the side of military equipment, and I hope we can soon conclude a Memorandum of Understanding on cooperation in defence equipment. We have done this with many other countries and they have found it very beneficial and so have we.
We are also very grateful for the outstanding generosity which Thailand has displayed towards hundreds of thousands of refugees from Cambodia. Your humanity is an example to the rest of the world and I have visited one of the refugee camps on the border and the care and compassion shown to those who fled Cambodia is remarkable.
Thailand is also contributing to attempts to find a political solution to the conflict in Cambodia which has seen so much terrible violence and cruelty. Indeed, the idea of giving a greater role to the Five Permanent Members of the United Nations Security Council grew out of my talks with your predecessor in Bangkok in 1988. Progress has been made but there is still a long way to go and it will take our best efforts to achieve a result.
I thought you put it very well, Prime Minister, when you said two years ago that your aim was to “turn battlefields into market places” . I think that is an excellent objective to set. We thank [end p3] you for all you have done to put it into effect and to restore peace in that part of the world.
For many centuries, Thailand—or Siam as it was called when I was young—was a land which we knew as one of great beauty and mystery. We pored over pictures, we pored over maps, but had very little first-hand knowledge. Now, many hundreds of our people are visiting you—indeed thousands—and seeing for themselves the great things you have achieved and your wonderful heritage and we are welcoming more of your people here. That is the best way to build good relations and as you indicated, Prime Minister, if you are to import more from us, you wish us to import more from your country of the very great things which you produce.
Your visit to us is another major step towards bringing Britain and Thailand closer together. We thank you for coming and we hope you will take back happy memories of Britain and the warm feelings of the British people for you, for your country and for your people—and looking quickly around the room, there is one thing that I have forgotten to mention which my Denis Thatcherhusband would never forgive me for: you, Sir, built the first golf course … . Golf is the great lubricant of good international relations … . and we have Nick Faldo with us, so I am sure that that great tradition of golf will continue on this visit.
May I ask you all to rise and join me in drinking a toast: to long life and happiness to Their Majesties, The King and Queen and a toast to the health of the Prime Minister. Prime Minister, your very good health and many congratulations (applause).