Thailand and Laos agreed on Thursday to enhance bilateral cooperation in various areas, including fortifying border security, tackling haze issues and adopting a mutual trade target of US$11 billion by 2027.
Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra met with her Lao counterpart Sonexay Siphandone at Government House, Bangkok, where the two leaders witnessed the signing ceremony for four agreements.
The first agreement signed was a plan for implementing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on justice and legal affairs cooperation between Laos' Ministry of Justice and Thailand's Ministry of Justice.
The second was a technical arrangement for rail passenger transportation between the State Railway of Thailand (SRT) and the Lao National Railway State Enterprise.
The third was an MoU on academic cooperation between Mae Fah Luang University in Chiang Rai and Souphanouvong University in Laos.
The last agreement was an MoU between Thailand’s Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking and the Lao National Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
The two sides also agreed on strengthening bilateral cooperation in three broad areas.
The first area covers border security cooperation, with both agreeing to increase efforts against drug smuggling, support more cash crop production in Laos to replace narcotic plants and combat call centre scam gangs in both countries. It also included increased information sharing to address cross-border haze pollution and expanding a telemetering network to cover more tributaries of the Mekong River in Laos for improved water management.
In the second area of cooperation, both countries agreed to adopt a new trade value target set at $11 billion by 2027.
For the third area, Thailand agreed to provide Laos with more than 75 new scholarships, particularly in medicine and public health.
Both sides also agreed to work closely under the Mekong Sub-region and Asean frameworks to tackle various challenges.
The two prime ministers also unveiled the emblem for the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Lao. Its design incorporated some of the best-known architectural, religious and cultural symbols of both nations into a heart-shaped frame.