Bangkok,November 29 (AseanAll)  — On November 28, 2024, at Thai Government House, Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra welcomed Mr. Lawrence Wong, Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore on occasion of his official visit to Thailand as guest of the Thai Government.

An official welcoming ceremony was held with the review of honor guards before the Thai Prime Minister led the Singaporean Prime Minister to the Building to introduce members of the cabinet. The Singaporean Prime Minister, then, signed the guestbook, and exchange souvenirs with the Prime Minister. At 1045, the plenary meeting was held at the Inner Ivory Room.  

 
The Thai Prime Minister welcomed the Singaporean Prime Minister and delegation. This is his first official visit to Thailand as the Prime Minister of Singapore following his assumption of the position in May 2024. It also marked the beginning of the celebration for the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025. Singapore has long been Thailand’s good friend with strong partnership and cooperation. Prior to the meeting, the two prime ministers have met on several occasions, i.e., at the 44th and 45th ASEAN Summits in Lao People's Democratic Republic, and the APEC Economic Leaders' Meeting in the Republic of Peru. This meeting would be a good opportunity to discuss the more in-depth cooperation.
 
The Singaporean Prime Minister thanked for the warm welcome and was pleased to meet and be the first official guest of the Prime Minister. He commended long-standing relations between Thailand and Singapore with regular exchange of high-level visits and close people-to-people relations. The two countries have also forged strong cooperation in security, economic connectivity, trade, and investment. The meeting today would be a good occasion to discuss new areas of cooperation, especially food, energy, green economy, and digital connectivity, to commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between the two countries in 2025.

 
The two leaders discussed the following cooperation:
 
1) Promoting closer high-level engagement, including high-level exchange of visits, especially in 2025, to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Thailand and Singapore. The Prime Minister expressed pleasure to pay an official visit to Singapore in 2025. She also conveyed her best wishes to the President of Singapore, and hoped to welcome him here in Thailand. The Singaporean Prime Minister is ready to welcome the Prime Minister to his country, which would be an opportunity for both sides to follow up on the progress of the cooperation discussed today.
 
2) Tightening closer security and economic cooperation and people-to-people relations
 
On security cooperation, both parties were pleased with Thailand and Singapore cooperation in joint military trainings and exercises, and agreed to enhance cooperation in defense industry, including the exchange of knowledge on modern technologies, and in security to cover cyber security and prevention of online scams.
 
On economic cooperation, the Prime Minister of Singapore emphasized strong economic relations between the two countries, especially in trade and investment, with large investments by Singaporean investors in Thailand. He also affirmed the Singaporean private sector’s confidence on Thailand's economic potentials. The two Prime Ministers also came to terms to increase cooperation in the green economy, especially green technologies (e.g., carbon capture, utilization and storage- CCUS), electric vehicles, hydrogen fuels, and carbon credit trading.
 
Both parties also committed to push ahead the signing of a new Memorandum of Understanding on Digital Economy Cooperation between Thailand and Singapore, which will endorse cooperation in cybersecurity, AI regulation, online scams, and other areas of mutual interest. The two Prime Ministers also agreed on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), for which Thailand, as Chair of DEFA Negotiations, aims to conclude the negotiations by 2025. The Prime Minister of Singapore expressed full support, and mentioned cooperation between the two countries in linking digital payment between Singapore's PayNow and Thailand's PromptPay, the world's first real-time payment linkage. He also affirmed Singapore’s commitment to further enhance cooperation with Thailand in potential areas.
 
Food security is an area that Singapore attaches great importance to and would like to have more cooperation with Thailand. The Prime Minister was pleased to help promote Singapore's food security, especially through an export of premium rice and organic eggs to Singapore.
 
In terms of energy security, both sides discussed cooperation on energy connectivity and multilateral power trading in ASEAN. Singapore would like to push ahead the “Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS:PIP)” which will promote energy connectivity in ASEAN.
 
On education and human resource development, Thailand is keen to enhance cooperation with Singapore in upskilling and reskilling human resources and future workforces through education, researches and vocational trainings, and welcomes the cooperation under the Memorandum of Understanding on Education Cooperation, which was signed today. This Memorandum of Understanding is one of the key outcomes of the 14th Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP) between Thailand and Singapore, which Thailand hosted in June.
 
In terms of tourism, both the leaders were pleased with tourism exchanges between Thailand and Singapore, and affirmed readiness to increase cooperation in cruise tourism in a bid to attract more tourists to Thailand and Singapore. The two Prime Ministers also committed to promote cultural exchanges, such as Thai movies, T-Pop songs and Muay Thai, Thailand's soft powers that are currently popular in Singapore. Thailand stands ready to leverage soft powers to promote tourism and enhance closer people-to-people relations.
 
3) Closer strategic coordination on regional issues: Thailand and Singapore stand ready to promote cooperation for sustainable development, value chains and logistics connectivity in the Greater Mekong Subregion, intra-ASEAN economic integration, and logistics connectivity. Both sides also wish for peace and stability in Myanmar, which will be of mutual benefit to the region. The Prime Minister hoped that the informal talk among ASEAN member states, to be held in Bangkok next month, would be an opportunity to identify practical guidelines for ASEAN regarding the Myanmar issue.
 
After the meeting, the Thai Prime Minister and the Prime Minister of Singapore visited the exhibition of Thai handicrafts and arts at the Central Hall, Santi Maitri Building. Afterwards, at 1200hrs, the Thai Prime Minister hosted a luncheon in honor of the Prime Minister of the Republic of Singapore and his delegation at Santi Maitri Building (Outer Building), Government House.