Malaysian PM to visit Thailand next week

BANGKOK, Dec 5 (TNA) – Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak will pay an official visit to Thailand Monday through Wednesday December 7-9 to meet his Thai counterpart in Bangkok and will also visit Thailand’s Malaysian border province of Narathiwat in the deep South.

This is Mr Najib’s first official visit to Thailand since assuming office as prime minister, and it is also the first time that he and Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva are taking part together in the annual consultation. During the visit, the Malaysian prime minister will be accompanied by his spouse, Rosmah Mansor.

On December 8 both prime ministers will co-chair the fourth annual consultation at Government House. The consultation will provide both leaders and accompanying ministers from the Thai and Malaysian sides with a good opportunity to cultivate mutual relations, to review and follow-up on progress made in the various areas of cooperation agreed during Mr Abhisit’s official visit to Malaysia on June 8 as well as at the Second Joint Development Strategy Ministerial Meeting (JDS MM) and the 11th Joint Commission Meeting (JC), held August 13-14 in Kota Kinabalu, Sabah.

The consultation will also allow both prime ministers to discuss ways and means to broaden and deepen the bilateral relations as well as cooperation between Thailand and Malaysia for the mutual benefits of the two countries and peoples.

Apart from the annual consultation, both leaders are scheduled to visit Narathiwat province together on Wednesday.

This historical visit adds another milestone to the bilateral relations between Thailand and Malaysia for it is the first time that a prime minister of Malaysia is visiting the southern border provinces of Thailand.

In Narathiwat, they will co-officiate the renaming ceremony of the “Second Bridge across the Golok River” to “The Friendship Bridge”, linking Ban Buketa, in Narathiwat province and Bukit Bunga, in Malaysia’s Kelantan state, witness the signing ceremony of an agreement on managing, maintaining and using the Friendship Bridge and visit the Att Arkiah Islamiah Institute as well as the sufficiency economy village project of Ban Rotunbatu.

Thailand and Malaysia share close and cordial relations at every level and aspect.  In March, Their Majesties the Yang di-Pertuan Agong and the Raja Permaisuri Agong of Malaysia paid a state visit to Thailand, as guests of Their Majesties the King and Queen.

Thailand and Malaysia are leading trading and investment partners. Malaysia is Thailand’s fourth trading partner while Thailand is Malaysia’s fifth ranking trade partner.

In 2008, the total trade between Thailand and Malaysia amounted to US$19.6 billion.  The same year, 1.8 million Malaysian tourists visited Thailand while 1.49 million Thai tourists visited Malaysia. The visit of Prime Minister Dato Sri Najib will mark another significant chapter in the longstanding relations between the two countries and peoples. (TNA)