Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha left this morning for Tokyo, Japan, to attend the 10th Mekong-Japan Summit and hold related talks with leaders of Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Japan.

The summit has been held every year since 2009 to strengthen relationship between Japan and the Mekong countries, and cooperation on sustainable development  and narrowing development gap within the Mekong region.

Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe will chair the summit that will be attended by leaders of the other five member nations, Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen, Lao Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith, Myanmar’s state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi, Gen Prayut and Vietnamese Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc.

At this year’s summit, the leaders will exchange views on how to pursue strong growth and development, mainly in the following three areas – connectivity, people and environment, according to information published on the website of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan.

At the end of the summit, these leaders are expected to come up with new principles for the Mekong-Japan cooperation, said the ministry.

Moreover, the Mekong leaders are scheduled to meet representatives of the Japanese business community, while Hun Sen will also visit Kanagawa and Suu Kyi will visit Fukushima, according to the ministry’s information.

Gen Prayut is today scheduled to hold a bilateral meeting with Abe before attending the 10^th Mekong-Japan Summit on Tuesday.

Also on Tuesday, Gen Prayut is to hold talks with representatives of Japan Business Federation, or Keidanren, and the Japanese council of chamber of commerce and industry.

He is to attend the Mekong-Japan Investment Forum organized by Japan External Trade Organization (JETRO) on the same day.

The Mekong leaders are also scheduled to later in the day have an audience with Japanese Emperor Akihito before meeting major Japanese private companies.

Gen Prayut is due to return to Thailand on Wednesday.