During Prime Minister Yingluck’s visit to Vietnam on 30 November 2011, both countries agreed to assign relevant agencies to convene the second joint cabinet meeting soon.
Thailand
initiated the first Thailand-Vietnam Joint Cabinet Retreat, which took place in
Danang, Vietnam, and Nakhon Phanom, Thailand, on 20-21 February 2004. At that
time, the Thai-Vietnamese Friendship Village was opened in Ban Na Chok, Mueang
district of Nakhon Phanom province.
In the
upcoming Joint Cabinet Retreat, Prime Minister Yingluck and Vietnamese Prime
Minister Nguyen Tan Dung will deliver speeches marking the opening of the
meeting. Then the two Prime Ministers will hold talks on bilateral issues,
while Cabinet members of the two countries will be divided into three groups to
discuss political-security, economic, and socio-cultural and education issues.
Prime
Minister Yingluck and her Vietnamese counterpart will exchange views on the
possibility of upgrading Thai-Vietnamese relations into strategic partnerships.
They will also discuss transportation links in the region and issues that need
cooperation in ASEAN-China relations. Thailand currently serves as the country
coordinator of ASEAN-China relations.
Discussions
in the political-security session will cover increased cooperation in tackling
problems concerning transnational crime, drugs, human trafficking, and illegal
fishing in Thai territorial waters by Vietnamese fishing boats. Thailand will
also raise for discussion its preparations for holding a forum on sustainable
water resource management.
Apart
from the issues of Route R9 (East-West Economic Corridor), Route R8, and Route
R12, the economic session will discuss efforts to achieve an increase of
bilateral trade by 20 percent between 2012 and 2015. It will also discuss
cooperation in rice exports between five ASEAN countries, namely Cambodia, Lao
PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam, and Thailand. At present, Vietnam is Thailand’s fourth
largest trading partner in ASEAN.
In the
socio-cultural and education session, both sides will touch on the issues of
labor cooperation, cultural exchange, the establishment of two more Thai study
centers in Vietnam, and the teaching of the Vietnamese language in Thailand.
On this
occasion, the Thai and Vietnamese Prime Ministers will witness the signing of
three important documents, namely the Joint Statement between the Thai and
Vietnamese Foreign Ministers, the Thailand-Vietnam Security Outlook, and the
memorandum of understanding on the establishment of the Thai-Vietnamese
Business Council.
Relations
between Thailand and Vietnam have expanded in several dimensions and these
cordial ties have benefited not only the two countries but also the ASEAN
region as a whole.
(thailand.prd.go.th)
