Thailand and Singapore have agreed to deepen cooperation in four key areas covering energy, investment, defence and regional affairs.
Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and his Singaporean counterpart, Lawrence Wong, reached the agreement at the fifth Thailand-Singapore Leaders’ Retreat in Bangkok on Wednesday, the first such meeting in 11 years.
The two leaders welcomed the Joint Statement on the Thailand-Singapore Forward-Looking Strategic Partnership, which will guide future relations and strengthen bilateral cooperation.
They also witnessed the exchange of a memorandum of understanding on social development between Thailand’s Ministry of Social Development and Human Security and Singapore’s Ministry of Social and Family Development.
The agreement covers social welfare, community development, people with disabilities, women, children and families, as well as personnel exchanges.
Mr Anutin said the first area of cooperation would focus on environmental sustainability and energy and food security.
Thailand and Singapore will deepen cooperation on clean and low-carbon energy, including the Laos-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project as a step towards developing the Asean Power Grid.
The two countries will also cooperate on carbon credits, hydrogen, green finance, low-carbon technologies and carbon capture, utilisation and storage.
On food security, Thailand will build on an agreement to supply Singapore with 100,000 tonnes of Thai rice over five years and seek to expand cooperation to other products.
The second area covers the economy, investment and digital cooperation.
Mr Anutin said Thailand would encourage Singaporean investment in semiconductors, digital industries, the green economy and logistics, alongside cooperation on high-skilled workforce development, financial connectivity, artificial intelligence and the digital economy.
The two countries will also strengthen digital links, building on cross-border digital payment cooperation launched in 2021, and explore further collaboration in financial technology.
The third area is defence and security.
Mr Anutin said the two sides would expand cooperation on defence, cybersecurity and defence industries, while stepping up efforts to combat online and transnational crime.
The fourth area involves regional strategic coordination.
Mr Anutin said Thailand would support Singapore’s Asean chairmanship in 2027 and work closely with Singapore to ensure continuity when Thailand assumes the chairmanship in 2028.