Source:  Office of the President – News Desk
Published on May 7, 2011

JAKARTA, Indonesia : The government of Thailand expressed keen interest in participating in the Public Private Partnership (PPP) program of the Philippines to share their experiences and knowledge in the said project.

In a press briefing here on Saturday following the opening ceremonies of the 18th Association of Southeast Nations (ASEAN) Summit, Energy Secretary Jose Rene Almendras said that the Thai government showed interest in the project during President Benigno S. Aquino III’s Bilateral meeting with Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva.

“One of the key features of the bilateral with Thailand was when the Thai Prime Minister expressed interest in the PPP program of the Philippines…”, Almendras said.

“They have expressed interest in our PPP projects and they are telling us that they wanted to discuss it some more because they have some ideas and proposals on how PPP worked in other countries” he added.

Foreign Affairs Secretary Albert Del Rosario for his part said this was the positive result of President Aquino’s bilateral meeting with his Thai counterpart.

Del Rosario said Thailand has a vast experience in PPP undertakings, a method they widely use to construct the extensive network of elevated roadways in its capital city Bangkok.

Del Rosario added that the Thai companies that built Bangkok’s world-class highway systems are now active in various international projects.

President Aquino welcomed the participation of Thai construction companies in the country’s infrastructure development through the PPP program. He gave them a list of potential PPP projects in the country.

“The Prime Minister of Thailand was very, very interested, he was literally asking what are the projects… what can we do. The bilateral meeting with Thailand was mostly about PPP… there is a lot of time spent expressing their PPP opportunities and how Thailand could come to the Philippines to invest and to share their own experience in PPP”, Almendras said.