A senior officials’ meeting within the first session of the Vietnam–Thailand Joint Commission on Bilateral Cooperation (JCBC) took place in Bangkok, Thailand on November 4.

At the event, the two sides tabled an array of cooperation issues regarding economics, trade, politics, security, defence, diplomacy, education and culture.

The session is held as the sides see growing bilateral relations, particularly since Party General Secretary Nguyen Phu Trong’s recent visit to Thailand, in which the two countries’ ties were elevated to a strategic partnership.

Vietnamese Foreign Minister Pham Binh Minh will co-chair the JCBC’s session on November 5, during which the two sides are set to approve an action programme to implement their strategic partnership.

Vietnam and Thailand organised the first session of their Joint Committee on Trade Cooperation in 2012.

In the first nine months of 2013, two-way trade reached 5.4 billion USD, a year-on-year increase of 14.2 percent.

With 315 projects worth 6.38 billion USD, Thailand now ranks ninth among countries and territories directly investing in Vietnam. Meanwhile, the latter is running nine projects, totalling over 12 million USD, in the former.-VNA