"The building of the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road is a far-sighted initiative," said a senior official of Thailand during an exclusive interview with People's Daily Online in Bangkok, Thailand.

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, Thai Permanent Secretary of Ministry of Commerce, said that countries along the Maritime Silk Road would therefore have closer connection and achieve common development.

Chutima pointed out that Thailand and China are important trading partners. At present, China has become the largest trading partner of Thailand, and Thailand is China's third largest trading partner in ASEAN countries. "We are very satisfied at these achievements. We hope China could maintain and expand the import of Thai products, and to early realize the target of increasing bilateral trade volume to 100 billion US dollars."

Thailand is a tourist destination and a country with rich resources and experience in tourism service. Chutima stressed that Thailand hoped to explore and develop tourism in China, and to provide service projects including hotel management and Thai-style health care. "China has great potential in this aspect," she added.

Chutima pointed out that in order to further enhance the level of trade and investment cooperation between the two countries, Thai and Chinese governments have set up a special work team. "To build the 21st century Marine Silk Road, Thailand could become an important part," she said.