|
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S new Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej on Wednesday rejected speculation that he would meet deposed premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Cambodia, where he is to make an official visit next month.
'I don't know anything about this,' Mr Samak told reporters, shrugging off local reports that he would see Thaksin during the premier's one-day official visit to the neighbouring kingdom on March 3.
'If there is a plan to meet, at least as prime minister I have to know it in advance. But there is no such appointment,' said the prime minister, who won elections in December by openly campaigning as a proxy for the ousted leader.
Mr Thaksin, who has been in exile since the 2006 coup toppling his government, is reportedly due to play golf with Cambodian Prime Minister Hun Sen in Phnom Penh in March.
Prior to the Cambodian trip, Mr Samak said he would also make a two-day official visit to neighbouring Laos on February 29.
'The purpose of my visit is to introduce myself,' Mr Samak said.
Mr Samak said he hoped to visit Thailand's other two neighbours, military-ruled Myanmar and Malaysia, but he gave no further details.
Mr Samak took office earlier in the month after leading the People Power Party to a victory in the December elections, the first polls since the coup. The party was formed by allies of Thaksin. -- AFP
| 
