Thailand and China will strengthen bilateral relations by building an economic corridor connecting Thailand to Laos and China, says the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA).
Tanee Sangrat, a spokesman for the MFA and director-general of its Department of Information, said the recent visit of Chinese State Councillor and Foreign Minister Wang Yi was an opportunity to promote bilateral relations and scale up investment in the country.
He said Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai and Mr Wang discussed a number of strategic issues as well as international collaboration, such as the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (Apec) and the Brics (Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa) Plus economic cooperation.
There was also a discussion about safety standards to ensure exported fruit are not contaminated with Covid-19 as well as to improve service at Mohan border checkpoint in Yunnan, China.
Both sides also discussed creating an economic corridor to further connect China to Thailand's Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) via Laos and China's Yunnan province.
This would allow Thailand to transport goods to Europe through China's International Land Sea Trade Corridor to promote trade and logistic connections to link China's Chongqing in the West to Singapore.
The department's director-general also said China has allowed Thai airlines to resume operations, three flights a week to China, together with permission for Thai students to return to study in the country.
So far, 135 Thai students are in the process of returning to China and hopefully more will follow suit, he said.
Mr Don also urged Mr Wang for cooperation in suppressing call centre scam gangs -- which have caused widespread issues among people living in Thailand -- by signing a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cyber security witnessed by the digital economy and society minister, said the MFA spokesman.