KUALA LUMPUR: Foreign Minister Datuk Saifuddin Abdullah (pix) will be in Thailand from tomorrow until Jan 19 to lead the Malaysian delegation at the Asean Foreign Ministers’ Retreat in Chiang Mai, followed by an official visit to Bangkok on Saturday.
According to a statement issued by Wisma Putra here today, Thailand is the Asean chairman this year, with the theme ‘Advancing partnership fpr sustainability, and the retreat is the first scheduled meeting for Asean members.
The meeting will be chaired by the Thai Foreign Minister, with the participation of Asean Foreign Ministers, the Asean secretary-general and senior officers from all Asean member states and will be preceded by the Senior Officials’ Meeting (SOM), it said.
It said issues that will be discussed by the foreign ministers include initiatives to move the Asean Community agenda forward and updates on the implementation of decisions made during the 33rd Asean Summit in Singapore last year.
“They will also exchange views on regional and international issues of common concern, as well as means to enhance Asean relations with its dialogue partners,” it said.
In Bangkok, Saifuddin will meet his Thai counterpart, Don Pramudwinai, to discuss bilateral issues, particularly on infrastructure projects at the Malaysia-Thai border, southern Thailand peace process dialogue, as well as regional and international issues of mutual concern, focusing in particular on initiatives by both countries on sustainability agenda.
“Malaysia and Thailand have strong bilateral cooperation in various sectors, including trade and investment, security and defence, as well as tourism.
“Thailand is Malaysia’s fifth largest trader partner overall and total bilateral trade between the two countries in 2017 was RM98.69 billion, with border trade alone accounts for more than 60 per cent of its total trade,” it said. — Bernama
