Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s article “Russia and Thailand: 120 Years of Mutual Respect and Trust” published in Thailand’s Matichon Weekly
This year we are celebrating a remarkable date, the 120th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations between Russia and Thailand. It is a good occasion for us to outline guidelines on where we can further join forces, drawing on the vast experience of diverse cooperation with our country’s long-time partner in Southeast Asia.
The official history of relations between Russia and Thailand began on July 3, 1897, when King Rama V of Siam visited St Petersburg. On April 14, 1898, Russia’s Consulate-General opened in Bangkok. It was headed by Alexander Olarovsky, whose activities had, as an instruction approved by Emperor Nicholas II read, to “be devoid of any selfish motives and profit seeking”. In 1899, the first bilateral agreement, the Russian-Siamese Declaration of Jurisdiction, Trade and Navigation, was signed. In those years Russia provided political support to Siam, which helped it defend its sovereignty from Britain’s attempts to establish its control over the country. The Thai royal family’s anthem, which was the country’s national anthem until 1932, was created by Russian composer Pyotr Shchurovsky.
At a time of the bipolar standoff between the sociopolitical systems in the 20th century, Moscow and Bangkok successfully advanced mutually beneficial cooperation in areas that were of interest to both countries. They signed the Trade Agreement in 1970 and the Air Service Agreement in 1971, which are still in effect. In 1973, Aeroflot airlines launched direct flights to the capital of Thailand.
In the mid-1980s, relations between the two countries entered a new stage. Thai Prime Minister Prem Tinsulanonda visited Moscow in 1988 and Chairman of the Council of Ministers of the USSR Nikolai Ryzhkov went to Bangkok in 1990. On December 28, 1991, Thailand recognised the Russian Federation as the successor to the Soviet Union and reaffirmed its commitment to developing friendly relations with it.
President Vladimir Putin’s official visit to Thailand in October 2003, which was the first trip by a Kremlin leader to this country while in office, provided a strong impulse to Russian-Thai cooperation. The high-level negotiations allowed the countries to coordinate the priority areas of their long-term cooperation. The countries reaffirmed their mutual commitment to stepping it up during the visit of Thailand’s Queen Sirikit to Russia in July 2007 in her role as a representative of King Bhumibol Adulyadej.
In recent years, the bilateral political dialogue has become more dynamic, which can be seen from President Vladimir Putin’s meetings with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on the sidelines of the Russia – ASEAN Summit in May 2016 in Sochi and at the BRICS Summit in Xiamen in September 2017. In 2015 and 2016, the two countries’ prime ministers exchanged visits.
Trade and economic cooperation is gaining momentum. Thailand has established itself as one of our country’s key trading partners in Southeast Asia. We are jointly taking steps towards achieving an ambitious objective: to bring trade between our two countries to $10 billion by 2020. The development of cooperation in high-technology areas, such as civil aviation, the energy sector, the use of space for peaceful purposes, transport and telecommunications is given priority attention. Russia has much to offer to its Thai partners who are interested in its promising developments in nanotechnology, bioengineering, telemedicine, geophysics and unconventional energy sources.
Overall investment in the Russian economy by Thai businesses has topped $1.6 billion, while Russian investment in Thailand has exceeded $500 million. We particularly appreciate the effective operation of the Charoen Pokphand Group, which is successfully carrying out agricultural projects in several Russian regions.
Inter-regional exchanges are moving forward. Back in 1997, protocols on friendly relations between Moscow and Bangkok (currently, a cooperation programme for 2015–2017 is in force) and between Bangkok and St Petersburg were signed. Since 2015, Moscow has served as a venue for an annual festival that allows Muscovites to gain an insight into Thai traditions, culture and cuisine. In November last year, Bangkok hosted Days of Moscow.
The first cultural ties between our countries can be traced back to 1900, when a traditional Thai dance company was received with enthusiasm by the St Petersburg audience. Today, famous Russian groups are regular guests of the international Bangkok dance and music festival. For many years, artists from the Mariinsky and Novosibirsk opera and ballet theatres, as well as other regions in Russia have been warmly received in Thailand. This year, to mark the 120th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries, the Yekaterinburg Opera and Ballet Theatre staged its performance, Katya and the Prince of Siam, in Thailand, while the traditional Thai Khon mask theatre toured Russia. In July, Bangkok hosted a Russian-Thai festival to mark the occasion.
We are glad that people in Thailand are increasingly seeking to study Russian and receive education in our country. Several hundred Thai nationals are currently studying in Russia, including those who have been awarded Russian state grants. A number of agreements have been signed to establish direct contact and cooperation between the two countries’ leading universities.
Thailand remains one of the most popular holiday destinations in Russia. Over one million tourists from Russia visited your hospitable country last year alone, while in the first five months of this year the flow of tourists increased by 37 per cent. There is also a large community of our compatriots living in Thailand: they launch Russian-language media and open schools, kindergartens and restaurants. Russia’s honorary consuls in Pattaya and on Phuket Island are playing an important role in ensuring the security of our citizens and protecting their rights and legitimate interests.
An important area of our joint work is cooperation in countering numerous challenges and threats. Our countries’ security councils discuss the issues of combating international terrorism, transnational crime, drug trafficking, human trafficking, arms smuggling, money laundering and other economic crimes. Contacts between supreme courts and law enforcement agencies are being actively promoted.
There is close cooperation between the foreign ministries of the two countries. During my visit to Bangkok in August 2017, we reaffirmed our close positions on key international and regional issues. Russia and our Thai partners have similar views on the basic principles of shaping a fair and democratic polycentric world order based on international law and reflecting the modern world’s cultural and civilisational diversity.
We are interested in expanding dialogue on shaping the architecture of equal and indivisible security in the Asia-Pacific region that is based on the non-aligned approaches for the sake of ensuring the sustainable development of all countries in the region without exception. We highly appreciate Bangkok’s intention to develop cooperation with the Eurasian Economic Union.
Russian-Thai relations have been time tested and have reached a high level of trust and mutual understanding. We face ambitious tasks to ensure progressive development of bilateral ties in order to promote the well-being and prosperity of people in our countries and strengthen peace and stability in Southeast Asia and the Asia-Pacific region as a whole. We believe that we can rise to the occasion and successfully deliver on these tasks.
