KL, Thailand to adopt plan for Thai south

KL, Thailand to adopt plan for Thai south

MALAYSIA: Malaysia and Thailand will this week endorse a program to develop Thailand's Muslim-majority southern provinces, wracked by unrest that has killed around 250 people this year, a report said on Sunday.

Malaysian Foreign Minister Syed Hamid Albar and his Thai counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai will discuss the program in Bangkok on Thursday, the Sunday Star newspaper said.

Largely Buddhist Thailand called in Muslim Malaysia, which borders the troubled Thai provinces, to help draw up a development blueprint for its Muslim areas in a bid to try to stem simmering unrest that ignited in January.

The blueprint includes plans for Malaysian vocational training of youths in southern Thailand and building trust between the government and locals in order to fight militancy, Syed Hamid said in the newspaper report.

It also covers the development of Islamic banking and tourism in the southern provinces with cooperation between Bangkok and Kuala Lumpur, the minister said. --AFP