Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao and his Thai counterpart Samak Sundaravej met Sunday on the sideline of the Third Summit of the countries in the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS), and the two agreed to strengthen bilateral cooperation and jointly promote regional peace and prosperity.

Wen spoke highly of the growth momentum of the bilateral relations in the recent years, noting that China is willing to join hands with Thailand to strengthen strategic coordination and push forward the comprehensive and pragmatic cooperation.

He also expressed his hope that China and Thailand would expand their two-way trade and achieve the objectives of hitting a total trade value of 50 billion U.S. dollars in the year of 2010, mutual investment worth 6.5 billion dollars and encourage 4 million tourists to travel to each destination.

Chinese government supports its enterprises to involve in the large projects in sectors such as the infrastructure construction and will encourage them to generate bigger contribution to step up the bilateral economic and trade cooperation, Wen told Samak.

The Thai Prime Minister, who is also the country's defense minister, highlighted the traditional friendship between the two nations, saying that Thailand would make joint efforts with the Chinese side to maintain the high-level exchange and cement the friendly cooperation in various fields in a bid to consolidate the bilateral friendly relations.

He also reiterated that Thailand would adhere to the one-China policy.

When on the Tibet issue, Samak said the issue is China's internal affairs, voicing his belief that China would handle well the issue and successfully host the forthcoming Olympic Games in Beijing this summer.

Invited as the guest of Lao Prime Minister Bouasone Bouphavanh, Wen arrived in Vientiane on Saturday evening for a working visit to Laos and participating in the Third GMS Summit.

The GMS, established in 1992, promotes economic and social development, irrigation and cooperation within the six Mekong countries. The first GMS Summit was held in Cambodia's Phnom Penh in 2002, and the second in southwest China's Kunming in 2005.

(Xinhua News Agency March 31, 2008)