Pm Pleased With Apec Summit

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BANGKOK, Nov 23 (TNA) - Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra returned home this morning, saying he was pleased with the 12th Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit, hosted by Chile late last week.

After arriving in Bangkok, the prime minister told journalists here that he was impressed by close and cordial contacts among APEC leaders during the 12th APEC Summit, held in the Chilean capital city of Santiago on 20-21 November.

"It would have been too bad if I missed this year's APEC summit, and that would have meant I was the only leader in the APEC's 21 member economies who could not attend the APEC summit. The atmospher of the summit was very nice. I had close and cordial discussions with other APEC leaders. We talked frankly on what are going on in our countries and region", said the Thai leader.

"I've learned more what policies our allies in APEC will be implementing. like the United States which is restructuring its immigration system to allow more Mexican nationals to work in the US, particularly in industries shunned by the Americans", he added.

Concerned about the situation in the country's deep South and suffering from a flu just days before his scheduled trip to Chile, the Thai leader was reported to have cancelled his visit to Santiago for the APEC summit, but he later officially announed to leave for the APEC summit as planned.

Mr. Thaksin said that he had also learned that every APEC member economy was restructuring its internal structure to boost its competitiveness in the fiercer world competition.

"What I've seen is that what are going on in APEC will be more and more important to the world economy as a whole. We, APEC, is meaningful for the direction of the world in the future", he noted.

The Thai leader said, however, that no leaders raised the situation in Thailand's southern border region for discussions, as they realized that the Thai government could take care of it. (TNA)--E002