His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa yesterday visited Thai government headquarters, where he was received by Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra.

They discussed bilateral relations and commended the advanced level of co-operation between their countries.

Followibg the meeting, a Bahraini-Thai discussion was held with HRH the Premier and his Thai counterpart leading their delegations.

They agreed to work through the Bahraini-Thai Joint Committee and the Joint Businessmen's Council to activate signed agreements.

They underlined the need to boost co-operation between GCC countries and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) and stressed the need for economic blocs to diversify distribution centres of their products due to economic volatility.

The two sides discussed measures being taken regarding food security, livestock, and fish farming to cater to the basic nutritional needs in Bahrain, avail of Thailand's experience in this respect and render Bahrain a distribution hub for Thai products in the region.

They also agreed to take advantage of Bahrain's financial and banking institutions, including Islamic ones, to fund Islamic sukuks and ensure that Islamic financial and banking institutions are established in Thailand.

Discussions also focused on ways of benefiting from the Thai experience in nurturing small companies.

HRH the Premier expressed delight at taking part in the World Economic Forum on East Asia, lauding the forum's high standards which, he said, will reflect positively on the Asian economy and push it forward towards more integration.

He stressed Bahrain's keenness to build bridges of co-operation with the rest of the world, including Thailand and Asean countries, to achieve high rates of growth for both countries.

The Thai Premier praised the pivotal role played by HRH Prince Khalifa in bolstering Bahraini-Thai relations and stressed her country's keenness to further cement bilateral links and boost co-operation at all levels.

She also praised the keynote speech given by the Premier at the forum and futuristic visions it included concerning the need to promote co-operation between the GCC countries and Asean to boost the two blocs' capability to withstand regional and international challenges.

The Thai Premier hosted a lunch banquet in honour of the Premier and his delegation, which was attended by ministers and senior officials.