Thai PM Reassures Japanese Investors of Political Stability

Visiting Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva assured leading Japanese investors on Friday that political stability has now returned to Thailand and they can be assured that cooperation under the existing economic partnership framework will be further strengthened.

In an attempt to allay concerns over recent political events in Thailand, the prime minister told leading members of the Japanese business association Keidanren on the second day of his three-day working visit that normalcy has been restored to the kingdom after years of political turbulence that culminated in the country's two main airports being seized by demonstrators last year.

Abhisit referred to the incident in which thousands of activists occupied Suvarnabhumi international airport and the smaller Don Mueang domestic airport for one week late last year in an attempt to bring down the then People Power Party-led government that was aligned with convicted former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra.

The prime minister said he regretted the damage done to the country by the airports' seizure, but assured his audience that his government would never permit any repetition of such an incident.