Visiting Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn attended the opening ceremony of a new Thai Consular Office in Chengdu, capital of Southwest China's Sichuan Province on Tuesday.

Pracha Guna-Kasem, advisor to Thai's Foreign Minister, said though Thailand has a consulate general in Southwest China's Kunming province, whose business covers Sichuan, "It is necessary to set a consular office in Chengdu due to the rising exchanges between Thailand and Sichuan in economy, culture and tourism."

The new office will carry out the same function as a consulate general in terms of issuing visas and promoting mutual investment and culture exchanges.

Princess Sirindhorn arrived in Beijing earlier Sunday as guest of the Chinese government. This is her 20th visit to China. Before Sichuan, she visited Beijing, Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region and Gansu Province in northwest China.