Speaking to business executives during his one-day official visit to the island nation, Mr. Abhisit said a general election would be held after the three primary problems are settled.

“It?s not difficult to dissolve the House and return power to the people,” the prime minister said.

Mr. Abhisit will complete his ASEAN chairmanship at the end of this year.

Reasserting that the overall situation in Thailand is quite peaceful now, the prime minister said his government still must more quickly resolve the political, economic and southern insurgency problems so that “peace can return to the country.

He said his government has issued two programmes of economic stimulus measures which he is confident will turn the economy around to reenter positive performance in the fourth quarter this year.

The government will boost tourism and public utilities and Thailand will remain the world’s largest food exporter, Mr. Abhisit said.

Mr. Abhisit was scheduled to hold talks with his Singapore counterpart Lee Hsien Loong, pay a courtesy call on President S.R. Nathan and confer with Minister Mentor Lee Kuan Yew, Singapore’s first prime minister, before returning to Bangkok late Monday. (TNA)

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 Thailand, Singapore agree to speed up economic cooperation

BANGKOK, June 22  –  Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and his Singapore?s counterpart Lee Hsien Loong on Monday agreed to speed up bilateral economic cooperation.

Speaking during a one-day visit to Singapore, the Thai prime minister said both governments agreed to expedite economic, social and security cooperation under existing bilateral frameworks.

Economic cooperation would also take centre stage at the Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Economic Relations (STEER) meeting aimed at promoting trade and investment of both countries.

The meeting is to be held in Singapore late this year.

The Thai premiere also said both Thailand and Singapore would join forces in strengthening the role of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The cooperation also included regional development, particularly trainings in Cambodia, Laos and Myanmar.

Mr. Abhisit said the Thai government had solved a number of problems and supported trade liberalisation.

The Thai premiere was confident his government’s new round of stimulus measures would attract more investment to Thailand.

“We’d like to see growth back in positive territory by the end of the year. And maybe something like 2 percent growth next year,” said the Thai prime minister. (TNA)