The blossoming of bilateral ties was a long time in coming. During the Cold War, cooperation and friendship between the two were somewhat limited by Thailand’s close alignment with the US-led free-world struggle for the containment of communism in Asia. France at the time was preoccupied with the Cold War in Europe against the Soviet bloc, striking out on its own diplomatically as a major power in its own right, apart from the blocs headed by the US and the then-USSR.

In the decades following World War II, France’s foreign policy in Southeast Asia focused on its former colonies in Indochina. Thailand, which had managed to escape colonisation through the diplomatic skill of its rulers, never featured very prominently on France’s diplomatic radar screen. But that all changed with the fall of the Berlin Wall, which ended the Cold War and brought about peace and stability in Europe, as well as Thailand’s rapid economic and social development in the 1980s and early 1990s. Both countries have since rediscovered each another as important trade and development partners.

Europe’s regional integration of the 35-member EU, coupled with that continent’s more pronounced role in global affairs, has also more or less coincided with a parallel development among Asean members. The fostering of close relations between the two regional groupings has reinforced bilateral ties and vice versa.

The latest available statistics show that bilateral trade amounts to just under US$3 billion (Bt118 billion) per year, and officials of both countries say there is still much room for expansion.

Thai exports include garments, jewellery, air-conditioners and parts, canned food, seafood, computers and tropical fruits, while imports from France include machinery, aircraft, steel, chemicals and pharmaceutical products. France is Thailand’s second-biggest European trading partner and one of the biggest European investors in Thailand, with total investment of more than $520 million.

Testifying to the strong economic ties between the two countries and keen interest in investment opportunities by French companies is the fact that Chirac’s entourage includes a big delegation of business people. Thailand’s plan to implement infrastructure mega-projects, particularly public-transport systems worth hundreds of billions of baht, is a main attraction for would-be French investors and contractors.

International cooperation will feature prominently on the agenda. Chirac, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and their respective official delegations will discuss a wide range of issues of mutual interest, including how to pressure Burma’s dictatorial regime to implement political reforms.

The two leaders are expected to reaffirm their commitment to the joint Franco-Thai action plan signed in 2004, which serves as a foundation for both countries to expand and deepen relations and explore new areas. The main thrust of this framework is to increase bilateral trade and investment and improve market access in both directions, as well as exchange technical and scientific know-how and strengthen political and defence cooperation.

It has taken centuries for both countries to come around, but Chirac’s state visit confirms what the Thai and the French people have known for some time. They can build friendly relations, profitable economic cooperation and a partnership in development based on long pre-existing ties that had been put on the back burner for too long.