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