{"id":14562,"date":"2022-08-10T23:36:07","date_gmt":"2022-08-10T15:36:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=14562"},"modified":"2022-08-10T23:36:09","modified_gmt":"2022-08-10T15:36:09","slug":"malaysia-thailand-keen-to-explore-new-areas-of-collaboration-saifuddin","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?p=14562","title":{"rendered":"Malaysia, Thailand keen to explore new areas of collaboration &#8211; Saifuddin"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<p><strong>BANGKOK, Aug 10<\/strong> &#8212;\u00a0Malaysia and Thailand are keen to explore new areas of collaboration including in agriculture and digital economy to boost economic cooperation, said Foreign Minister Datuk Seri Saifuddin Abdullah.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>He said Malaysian Prime Minister&nbsp;Datuk Seri&nbsp;Ismail Sabri&nbsp;Yaakob and Thai Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o-cha had&nbsp;set a new bilateral trade target of&nbsp;US$30 billion (RM134 billion) by 2025.&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cMalaysia and Thailand agreed to enhance economic cooperation, among others, to explore \u00a0new areas of collaboration,\u201d<\/em> he said\u00a0at a joint press conference with his Thai counterpart Don Pramudwinai, who is also the deputy prime minister here, today.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Earlier, Saifuddin and Don co-chaired the 14th Meeting of the Joint Commission (JC) for Bilateral Cooperation and the 5th Meeting of the Committee on the Joint Development Strategy (JDS) for Border Areas.<\/p>\n\n\n<div class=\"wp-block-image\">\n<figure class=\"aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" src=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-1024x550.png\" alt=\"collaboration\" class=\"wp-image-14563\" width=\"633\" height=\"340\" srcset=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-1024x550.png 1024w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-300x161.png 300w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-768x413.png 768w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-186x100.png 186w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-350x188.png 350w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-800x430.png 800w, https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png 1176w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 633px) 100vw, 633px\" \/><\/figure><\/div>\n\n\n<p>Thailand is Malaysia\u2019s 6th largest trading partner and the second largest trading partner among ASEAN member states. Total trade had&nbsp;increased by 23 per cent to US$23.64 billion in 2021 from the year before.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>On Malaysia-Thailand border areas, Saifuddin said both sides&nbsp;agreed to accelerate the implementation of border infrastructure projects.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>They&nbsp;include the road alignment to connect the Immigration, Customs, Quarantine and Security (ICQS) complex&nbsp;in Bukit Kayu Hitam with the new Sadao Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) complex in Songkhla&nbsp;and the Second Friendship Bridge Rantau Panjang in&nbsp;Sungai Golok.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cAlmost 50 per cent of Malaysia-Thailand bilateral trade are concentrated in the border areas.&#8221;<\/em><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cIt is important to have good infrastructure at the border areas to support the needs of the people and business community,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>During the meeting, Saifuddin said being among the top three producers of natural rubber&nbsp;in the world&nbsp;Malaysia and Thailand&nbsp;also&nbsp;looked&nbsp;into exploring collaboration in stabilizing rubber price.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><em>\u201cBoth sides also discussed how the Kedah Rubber City and Songkhla Rubber City could collaborate to benefit rubber smallholders in the two countries by stabilising the market price and benefiting the value chain suppliers for rubber-based industries,\u201d<\/em> he said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Meanwhile, Saifuddin said the meetings today is fruitful as it provided the opportunity for Malaysia and Thailand to review the progress of bilateral cooperation programmes.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The two meetings &#8211; JC&nbsp;and JDS&nbsp;were last held seven years ago in Kuala Lumpur.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Malaysia will host the next JDS and JC Meetings in Kuala Lumpur next year on a date convenient to both sides. It is also Malaysia\u2019s turn to host the 7th Malaysia-Thailand Annual Consultation at the Leaders\u2019 level.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/\">NMT<\/a> as reported by <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bernama.com\/en\/world\/news.php?id=2109648\">Bernama<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>BANGKOK, Aug 10 &#8212;\u00a0Malaysia and Thailand are keen to explore new areas of collaboration including&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14563,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[14,524],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14562","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-asia","category-nation"],"featured_image_urls":{"full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png",1176,632,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-150x150.png",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-300x161.png",300,161,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-768x413.png",640,344,true],"large":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM-1024x550.png",640,344,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png",1176,632,false],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png",1176,632,false],"newsium-slider-full":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png",1176,632,false],"newsium-featured":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png",1024,550,false],"newsium-medium":["https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/Screenshot-2022-08-10-at-11.33.15-PM.png",720,387,false]},"author_info":{"info":["Editor"]},"category_info":"<a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=14\" rel=\"category\">Asia<\/a> <a href=\"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/?cat=524\" rel=\"category\">Nation<\/a>","tag_info":"Nation","comment_count":"0","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14562","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14562"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14562\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14564,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14562\/revisions\/14564"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14563"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14562"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14562"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/newmalaysiatimes.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14562"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}