Trade and investment, climate change, clean energy, human trafficking and regional support and cooperation were among the top items discussed during a meeting between Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and US Secretary of State Antony Blinken yesterday (July 10).
Mr Blinken and Foreign Affairs Minister Don Pramudwinai signed two agreements to strengthen ties: the Thailand-United States Communique on Strategic Alliance and Partnership and a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on Promoting Supply Chain Resilience, reports the Bangkok Post.
Government spokesman Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana said Prayut had expressed delight at the relationship between both countries, which will celebrate 190 years of diplomatic ties next year.
The premier welcomed the signing of the communique and said it will help the nations work more closely to achieve shared objectives, Mr Thanakorn said.
Prayut also conveyed his best wishes to US President Joe Biden and thanked the US leader for the invitation to the US-Asean Special Summit in Washington, DC in May. The prime minister expects to welcome Mr Biden at the Apec summit in Bangkok in November.
Meanwhile, Mr Blinken told the prime minister that the joint communique reaffirms the Thai-US alliance and he believes it will lay the foundations of relations for the next 190 years.
He also stressed that Washington attaches great importance to tightening Thai relations and praised Prayut for Thailand’s role in hosting Apec meetings.
Both countries hope benefits from the signing of the supply chain MoU will come to fruit soon especially in terms of expanded investments and those supporting the government’s Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economic model.
On human trafficking, the Thai government reaffirmed its commitment to deal with the issue and noted that it has made it a national agenda item to curb the practice, while the US expressed admiration for the country’s efforts in stamping out human trafficking.
The US also said its annual Trafficking in Persons Report (TIP), issued by the US State Department, will be released soon and hoped Thailand will receive good news.
Thailand was demoted to the Tier 2 Watch List from Tier 2 in last year’s TIP report. The government hopes it will be upgraded this year for addressing problems mentioned in last year’s report. Mr Thanakorn said both sides agreed to support each other at the sub-regional and regional levels.
Thailand joined the US’ multilateral trade agreement, known as the Indo-Pacific Economic Framework, because it aims to support economic recovery and sustainable development in the region, Mr Thanakorn said.
The meeting came only days after Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi paid a two-day visit to Thailand which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs viewed as an opportunity to promote bilateral relations and scale up investment in the country.
Foreign Minister Don and Wang discussed a number of strategic issues including further connecting China to Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) via Laos and China’s Yunnan province.
This would allow Thailand to transport goods to Europe through China’s International Land Sea Trade Corridor to promote trade and logistic connections to link China’s Chongqing in the West to Singapore.
It was also confirmed that China has allowed Thai airlines to resume operations via three flights a week to China together with permission for Thai students to return to study in the country.
So far, 135 Thai students are in the process of returning to China and hopefully more will follow suit.
Don also urged Wang for cooperation in suppressing call centre scam gangs - which have caused widespread issues among people living in Thailand - by signing a MoU on cyber security.
There was also a discussion about safety standards to ensure exported fruit are not contaminated with COVID-19 as well as to improve service at Mohan border checkpoint in Yunnan, China.
harald | 12 July 2022 - 10:15:30