(AseanAll) — On October 11, 2023, at the Government House of Malaysia in Putra Jaya, Thai Prime Minister and Minister of Finance Srettha Thavisin met with Dato’ Seri Anwar Ibrahim on occasion of his official visit to Malaysia.
According to the Thai Prime Minister, his official visit to Malaysia underscored Thailand’s commitment to advance potentiality and cooperation between the two countries on the basis of peace and prosperity of the people of both countries.
Srettha also extended his invitation to the Malaysian counterpart to visit Thailand at the first convenient opportunity, and expressed hope to increase cooperation with Malaysia in food security and agro products, especially Halal food.
Both leaders also agreed on the setup of task force groups in the areas of mutual interest, e.g., tourism, to promote tangible cooperation.
The Thai and Malaysian Prime Ministers discussed other issues of mutual interest:
Thailand and Malaysia agreed to reinforce economic relations and cooperation, and to set a new target for bilateral trade. As the two countries are each other’s top trade partner in ASEAN, promoting ease of doing business and border connectivity are instrumental. The Prime Minister hoped to increase cooperation in digital economy and green economy, value chain and ecosystem linkages for hi-tech sectors, EVs investment, and to promote foreign investment (FDI).
Additionally, the Thai Prime Minister wanted to see transformation of Thailand’s Southern border provinces and the North of Malaysia as the new area of growth for mutual benefit. Thailand would also like to expedite key infrastructure connectivity projects to better facilitate transport and logistics, and border crossing of people of the two countries. This is in a bid to increase the number of tourists between each other and promote border tourism, as well as to strengthen ties between local businesses, and turn conflicting area into trading area.
The Thai Prime Minister also underscored Thailand – Malaysia strategic partnership. The Thai Government under his leadership stands ready to work closely together with Malaysia in reinforcing ASEAN and promoting regional peace and prosperity.
After the meeting, the Thai and Malaysian Prime Ministers held a joint press briefing before attending a gala dinner hosted by the Malaysian Prime Minister in honor of the Thai counterpart.
