Singapore's Prime Minister Lawrence Wong to visit Thailand on November 28

During his visit, Wong, who is also Finance Minister, will have a royal audience with Thai King Maha Vajiralongkorn and Queen Suthida. He will also meet Paetongtarn, who will host him and his delegation at an official lunch, said the Prime Minister’s Office in a statement.

Wong’s trip to Bangkok is part of his introductory visits to Southeast Asian capitals since becoming prime minister in May. In the region, he has so far visited Malaysia, Brunei, Indonesia and Laos.

Diplomatic relations between Singapore and Thailand were established in 1965, which means both countries will commemorate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations in 2025.

The two neighbours collaborate in many areas, including fintech, digital economy and energy.

In 2021, Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay launched the world’s first linkage of real-time payment systems. Customers of participating banks in Singapore and Thailand can transfer money across the two countries using just a mobile number.

In May 2023, the Singapore Exchange and the Stock Exchange of Thailand launched the Thailand-Singapore Depository Receipts Linkage, the first exchange-level depository receipts cooperation in ASEAN.

Under phase one of the Lao PDR-Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore Power Integration Project (LTMS-PIP), launched in June 2022, Singapore imported up to 100MW of renewable energy from Laos through Thailand and Malaysia. The LTMS-PIP serves as a pathfinder for an Asean Power Grid, which will strengthen the region’s energy security and resilience.

Both countries also share close and longstanding defence relations, including with exercises such as Exercise Cobra Gold.

Under the Singapore-Thailand Third Country Technical Training Programme, both countries jointly conduct courses for ASEAN member states and Timor-Leste in areas such as public administration.

This is the only such partnership that Singapore has with a fellow ASEAN member state. More than 70 courses have been conducted for over 1,000 officials.

In June, Foreign Minister Vivian Balakrishnan made an official visit to Thailand, where he jointly officiated the opening of the 14th Thailand-Singapore Civil Service Exchange Programme with Thai Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa. Both countries committed to deepening engagement in areas such as sustainability, renewable energy, science and technology, digital economy and education.

Other collaborations include the Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Economic Relationship (Steer). Following the 6th Steer meeting in Bangkok in October 2022, both countries committed to deepening engagement in areas such as trade and investment, and tourism cooperation, as well as in newer areas like the digital economy, innovation and sustainability.

Thailand and Singapore consistently feature among each other’s top tourist destinations. In 2023, there were reportedly 1.9 million visitors from Singapore to Thailand and around 450,000 visitors from Thailand to Singapore.

Bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $41.78 billion in 2023, and they were each other’s ninth-largest trading partner.

Singapore was Thailand’s second-largest foreign investor in 2023 at $4.8 billion. The investments are in sectors such as financial and insurance services, manufacturing, wholesale and retail trade, and real estate.

Wong will be accompanied on this visit by Balakrishnan and officials from the Prime Minister’s Office and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

During his absence, Deputy Prime Minister Heng Swee Keat will be Acting Prime Minister.

Chin Soo Fang

The Straits Times

Asia News Network