A government spokesman, Chai Wacharonke, says that Thailand wants to have a free trade deal with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) countries to encourage business and trade.
On Saturday, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin came back from his trip to Saudi Arabia of five days. On October 19, he got on a plane from Beijing to Riyadh.
He had to go to the Asean-GCC Riyadh Summit on Saturday at the Ritz-Carlton in the city as part of his trip to Saudi Arabia. After that, Mr. Srettha met with Saudi Crown Prince and Prime Minister Mohammed bin Salman Al Saud to talk about business.
Both leaders said they wanted to make the relationship between Thailand and Saudi Arabia stronger, especially when it came to trade and business.
During the meeting, Mr. Srettha thanked Crown Prince Mohammed for trying to fix the relationship after it had a diplomatic snub years ago.
In the past two years, both countries have worked on a lot of projects to improve their bilateral ties, especially to boost trade and investment.
Because of this, Mr. Chai said, the prime minister has suggested making a Thai-GCC Free Trade Area.
He also said that the government would back Saudi Arabia’s plan to hold the World Cup in 2034 and the Riyadh Expo 2030.
He also said that the two leaders talked about how they might work together in the future in many areas, such as trade, politics, business, security, culture, and investment.
Thailand had already said it was ready to host the first meeting of the Saudi-Thai Coordination Council in Bangkok.
Mr. Chai said the meeting would be a great way for Saudi Arabia and Thailand to work together in the future.
Mr. Chai said that Mr. Srettha also thanked the Saudi government for taking care of Thai workers, of whom more than 6,000 now live in the country.
On Saturday, Mr. Srettha also met with people from the Saudi Arabian Oil Company (Saudi Aramco), the Saudi Arabia Basic Industries Corporation (Sabic), and the country’s Governor of the Public Investment Fund (PIF) to talk about energy investment prospects.
It was said that both Sabic and Saudi Aramco wanted to invest in Thailand’s energy market.
Last year, Saudi Aramco and Thailand’s PTT signed an agreement to work together in the energy business. They hope that talks will lead to better cooperation.
(Photo: Government House)
READ MORE https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gulf_Cooperation_Council
