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.