Thailand and Japan signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) in Bangkok yesterday, agreeing to cooperate on dinosaur museums in Kalasin province and Fukui prefecture, respectively.
Under the MoU, Sirindhorn Museum and Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum will become sister museums and cooperate closely on research, exhibition exchanges, staff training and excavation work.
The agreement was signed between Nimit Sornklang, director of the Rock and Mineral Research Centre of the Mineral Resources Department, and Dr Yoichi Azuma, curator of the Fukui Prefectural Dinosaur Museum.
"This MoU will further strengthen our existing relationship and help develop both museums to become centres of dinosaur studies in Asia," said Issei Nishikawa, the Fukui prefecture governor.
The museums began cooperating in 2006 when they started exchanging paleontology expertise.
In 2013, the Fukui museum borrowed dinosaur fossils from Sirindhorn Museum to display at an exhibition in Japan. The relationship has since developed.
"There was a positive response from the Japanese after the exhibition in terms of their curiosity about the history of dinosaurs in Thailand," he said.
Both the Thai and the Japanese museums are located near areas where dinosaur fossils have been found.
Fukui's museum is located in Katsuyama city and was established in July, 2000.
Sirindhorn Dinosaur Museum was built in Nonthaburi province in 1995 after dinosaur fossils were discovered at nearby Wat Sakkawan.
Both museums attract thousands of visitors each year.