Thailand Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva will attend the upcoming G-20 summit in London in his capacity as chair of the Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN), foreign ministry officials confirmed Monday, dpa reported.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown, who was reportedly impressed by the Oxford-educated 44-year-old Thai premier when they met in Davos at the World Economic Forum last month, personally invited Abhisit to attend the G-20 meeting in London on April 2.
"The prime minister has been invited as the chair of ASEAN and he intends to go," Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thongpakdi said.
The London meeting will discuss means of restoring global financial stability.
It will be the first time for a Thai leader to attend a summit of the G-20, which includes Argentina, Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, France, Germany, India, Indonesia, Italy, Japan, Mexico, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Africa, South Korea, Turkey, Britain and the US.
Thailand, which holds the revolving chairmanship of ASEAN this year, will host the 14th ASEAN summit on February 27-March 1, and a meeting of finance ministers from ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea on February 21-22.