PM Wong to make introductory visit to Bangkok on Nov 28
It will be his fifth in a series of introductory trips to South-east Asian capitals since taking office
PRIME Minister Lawrence Wong will make his introductory visit to the Thai capital Bangkok on Thursday (Nov 28), at the invitation of his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra.
PM Wong will be the first foreign head of government to be hosted by the Thai leader since she took office in August. She will host the Singapore leader and his delegation to lunch.
The two previously spoke when PM Wong made a congratulatory phone call shortly after her election; they also met at the Asean summit in Laos in October.
A statement by the Prime Minister’s Office (PMO) on Wednesday said that PM Wong will also have an audience with King Maha Vajiralongkorn Phra Vajiraklaochaoyuhua and his wife Queen Suthida Bajrasudhabimalalakshana during his one-day visit.
This trip is the fifth of PM Wong’s series of introductory visits to South-east Asian nations, following earlier stops in Brunei, Malaysia, Laos and Indonesia.
Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan, as well as officials from the PMO and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, will be in his delegation on this visit.
BT in your inbox
Start and end each day with the latest news stories and analyses delivered straight to your inbox.
While PM Wong is away, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will be the acting prime minister.
Advancing bilateral cooperation
PM Wong’s visit is expected to provide Singapore and Thailand with an opportunity to further bilateral cooperation in new areas, such as education, renewable energy, the digital economy and food security.
It follows other high-level visits between the countries in recent years. In June, Dr Balakrishnan made an official visit to Thailand, where he and his Thai counterpart officiated at the opening of the 14th Singapore-Thailand Civil Service Exchange Programme (CSEP) – a longstanding bilateral mechanism.
Singapore and Thailand will celebrate 60 years of diplomatic relations in 2025, with both sides having built up deep ties over the years.
One area is in trade and investment; bilateral trade amounted to S$41.8 billion in 2023. Both countries were also each other’s ninth-largest trading partner.
At S$4.8 billion, Singapore was Thailand’s second-largest foreign investor last year, in sectors such as financial and insurance services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and real estate.
The two countries have also cooperated in the digital economy. For example, Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay became the world’s first linkage of real-time payment systems in 2021; the stock exchanges on both sides introduced the Singapore-Thailand Depository Receipts Linkage, Asean’s first exchange-level depository receipts cooperation.
Other areas of cooperation include energy, defence, education and tourism. They also work together through platforms such as CSEP and the Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Economic Relationship, which Singapore will host next year.
In his congratulatory letter upon Paetongtarn’s appointment as Thailand’s prime minister, PM Wong had invited her and her husband to visit Singapore “at the earliest opportunity”.
Copyright SPH Media. All rights reserved.
