Thailand calls for food, energy collaboration among Bimstec members

The meeting was held on July 11-12 in New Delhi, enabling member countries to exchange ideas on implementing guidelines for the sixth Bimstec Summit in Thailand on September 4 this year.

Maris explained that Thailand, India and most of the member countries rely on agriculture, so they could cooperate to ensure food security in the Asia region along with offering aid to the global society.

He confirmed that several member countries have potential in energy security, especially renewable energy. “For instance, Myanmar has hydropower and the Thai government is promoting alternative energy,” he said.

Bimstec is a regional organisation with seven members: Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. 

On human resource security, he added that Thailand has promoted collaboration on medical tourism, in which the country takes a key role in this field.

“These three collaboration frameworks will be considered during the Bimstec Summit in Thailand on September 4 this year,” he said.

Maris stressed Thailand’s role to strengthen collaboration between members of Bimstec and ASEAN, adding the country was ready to host the upcoming summit.

He noted that the private sector plays an important role in achieving Bimstec’s policies. “Thailand will propose hosting the Bimstec Young Entrepreneur Forum during the summit, which will allow youth to share new business ideas,” he said.

Maris said he and his Bimstec counterparts had met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi, saying the Indian PM hoped for a successful summit in Thailand.

The Thai foreign minister said he had discussed with his counterparts from India and Myanmar on collaboration to promote peace in Myanmar via negotiations, as well as land transport linkage between the three countries, which is crucial for development under the Bimstec framework.

He said he had expressed concerns to Myanmar Foreign Minister over border issues which affected Thai people. He added that he had affirmed Thailand’s readiness to restore peace on the border as soon as possible, as well as tackling transnational crimes, especially drug smuggling, weapons trade and online scams.

Maris said he had discussed with Indian Foreign Minister S Jaishankar various areas for collaboration between the two countries, such as joint military exercises, military equipment data exchange, tourism, trade and investment.

“We have invited Indian investors to invest in various industries in Thailand, such as electric vehicles and the digital economy,” he added.