Thai, S'pore leaders agree to boost regional investment
Thai, S'pore leaders agree to boost regional investment
BANGKOK (Agencies): Thailand and Singapore agreed yesterday to
boost cooperation to gain a better foothold in Southeast Asia's
lucrative markets and to help Myanmar, Cambodia and Laos
integrate into ASEAN, officials said.
Thai Prime Minister Chaowalit Yongchaiyudh his Singaporean
counterpart Goh Chok Tong agreed to pool resources and use
Thailand as a springboard for investment in poorer Southeast
Asian economies.
The two governments also set up a training and development
scheme aimed at easing Myanmar Cambodia and Laos into the
Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after their entry
in July.
ASEAN decided to admit the three at a meeting in Malaysia last
month in a move which will expand the regional grouping's market
to 500 million people.
"Thailand and Singapore need to look on each other as partners
rather than as competitors to complement each other's efforts in
regional expansion," Thai Industry Minister Korn Dabarangsi told
reporters.
"We must combine our business strengths so that Thailand can
be used as a stepping stone for expansion into Myanmar and
Indochina," he added.
He was speaking after Chaoawlit and Goh, who is on a three-day
visit here at the head of a top-level business team, agreed to
form a new strategic partnership to boost joint regional business
ventures.
The so-called Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Partnership (STEP)
will promote cooperation in the economic, cultural, political and
security fields, he said.
A government spokesman said the agreement also involved
promoting trade and investment between Thailand and Singapore,
including in the fields of personnel, development, training and
civil servant exchanges.
During his visit, Goh urged Thailand to join a strategic high-
speed telecommunications network linking his country with the
United States.
A Thai government spokesman said Goh also told his Thai
counterpart Chavalit Yongchaiyudh that Singapore recognized
Thailand's crucial role as the future hub of trade and industries
in Indochina.
Last month, Singapore launched a high-speed Internet link to
the United States, the first country in Asia after Japan to do
so.
Ratanakorn said a contingent of more than 70 Singapore
businessmen who accompanied Goh on a three-day visit showed
Singapore was confident in Thailand's economy despite its current
setbacks.
The weak Thai economy, rocked by problems in its battered
financial and property sectors, is this year projected to grow at
its slowest pace in a decade.
Ratanakorn said Goh praised Thailand's eastern and southern
seaboard projects as a vital future infrastructure base for the
Indochinese region that also covers Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and
Burma.
Goh arrived in Bangkok on Monday. He was due to have an
audience with King Bhumibol Adulyadej later in the day and tour
industrial zones in south eastern Thailand on Tuesday.