THAI Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra will arrive in Bahrain today on her first official visit to the country since her accession to power.

She has been invited by His Royal Highness Prime Minister Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa in a bid to boost Bahraini-Thai diplomatic and trade relations.

A number of memoranda of understanding between the two countries aimed at developing ties in education, health and tourism will be signed during the visit.

It will also provide an opportunity to discuss ways of broadening areas of co-operation, exchange points of view regarding regional and global issues of mutual concern and reassert both countries' support for peace and stability across the world.

Bahraini-Thai relations have grown steadily due to the keenness of the leaderships to consolidate co-operation and reinforce relations based on mutual respect and common desire to achieve the interests of their people.

It dates back to 1977 when both countries started exchanging ambassadors, which was consolidated by the opening of the Thai Embassy in Manama on February 15, 2004 and the opening of Bahrain's Embassy in Bangkok in 2007.

It has since been strengthened by official visits such as that of His Majesty King Hamad last month and that of HRH the Premier in March, enabling the two countries to discuss ways of bolstering bilateral ties in all fields and sign many co-operation agreements.