Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin meets with his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim at the customs office of the new Sadao border checkpoint in the Thai province of Songkhla. (Photo: mfa.go.th) Bangkok (VNA) – Thai Prime Minister SretthaThavisin on November 27 met his Malaysian counterpart Anwar Ibrahim at thecustoms office of the new Sadao border checkpoint in the Thai province ofSongkhla.
During the meeting, the two PMs agreed to facilitatebilateral border trade and tourism through the checkpoint.
According to the Government House of Thailand, both sides agreed tospeed up their road access to the new Sadao checkpoint on the Thai side of theborder to increase cross-border trade and travel as the old Sadao checkpoint issmaller and cannot be expanded.
On the Malaysian side, the new Sadao checkpoint will beconnected by road to the Bukit Kayu Hitam checkpoint in Malaysia's Kedah state.Both sides also agreed to form joint task forces to coordinate border trade,tourism, and agricultural and security affairs.
Srettha asked Malaysia to host a Joint Trade Commissionmeeting for their commerce ministers to discuss solutions to bilateral tradeobstacles.
He also asked the Malaysian government to quickly work out amemorandum of understanding on cross-border transport of goods to facilitatethe operation of the new Sadao checkpoint.
On security, both sides agree to coordinate efforts to tackletrafficking wildlife along their border. The Thai and Malaysian prime ministersalso promised to speed up their sections of the second Sungai Kolok bridge thatlinks the Sungai Kolok district of Narathiwat and the Malaysian town of RantauPanjang.
After their meeting, the Thai PM said he intended to promoteborder trade with Malaysia, and hoped that Thai and Malaysian roads tothe new Sadao border checkpoint will be completed in 2025./.
