The Honorable Dato’ Sri Mohd Najib bin Tun Abdul Razak, Prime Minister of Malaysia and spouse are paying an official visit to Thailand at the invitation of His Excellency General (Ret.) Prayut Chan-o-cha, Prime Minister of Thailand to attend the Sixth Annual Consultation (AC) on 9 September 2016 at the Government House. The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Malaysia and Ministers concerned from International Trade and Industry, Transport, Agriculture, Education, Home Affairs and Prime Minister’s Department, will also attend the meeting. The program of the 6th AC includes a small group meeting, a plenary meeting, witnessing the signing of Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC), a joint press conference and an official dinner hosted by the Prime Minister of Thailand in honour of the Prime Minister of Malaysia and spouse.   

The Annual Consultation is the highest bilateral mechanism between Thailand and Malaysia with the objective of cultivating friendly relations between the Prime Ministers of Thailand and Malaysia and relevant Ministers of both countries, reviewing bilateral relations and follow-up on the implementation of cooperation from the official visit to Malaysia by the Prime Minister of Thailand on 1 December 2014, the visit to Malaysia by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand on 21-22 October 2015 to attend the 13th Joint Commission (JC) and the 4th Joint Development Strategy (JDS) between Thailand and Malaysia in Kuala Lumpur, the visit to Thailand by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Home Affairs of Malaysia on 5 August 2016 and the visit to Malaysia by the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defense of Thailand on 29 August 2016.

During this Sixth Annual Consultation, the Prime Minister of Thailand and the Prime Minister of Malaysia will attach importance to discussing ways to further strengthen relations between Thailand and Malaysia on the occasion of the 60th Anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2017 and the establishment of the ASEAN Community.

It is expected that both Leaders will discuss –

(1) Security cooperation including border management, combating transnational crimes and human trafficking, cyber security, international terrorism and extremism

(2) Cooperation in the Southern Border Provinces of Thailand (SBPs) and the dialogue peace process in the SBPs facilitated by Malaysia

(3) Trade investment and tourism cooperation, which both sides will explore the possibility of achieving a targeted trade of 30 billion USD by 2018, support the role of the private sectors in steering economic relations as well as discuss on joint tourist destinations

(4) Economic and infrastructure development to promote connectivity and facilitate cross border transport and travel with the shared view of promoting well-being of the people in the border areas such as the expansion of the Customs, Immigration and Quarantine (CIQ) facilities at Sadao-Bukit-Kayuhitam and the construction of the two bridges across the Golok river connecting Narathiwat province and the state of Kelantan

(5) The linking of Rubber Cities at Industrial Estate of Thailand, Songkla province and Kota Putra Rubber City, the state of Kedah and

(6) Expedite the conclusion of pending Agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) such as MOU on cooperation in combating human trafficking, MOU on agriculture cooperation and MOU on education cooperation  

After the meeting, the two Prime Ministers will witness the signing of the Memorandum of Cooperation (MOC) on the Songkhla Rubber City and Kota Putra Rubber City between Industrial Estate Authority of Thailand and Tradewinds Plantation Berhad.  

Malaysia will host the Seventh Annual Consultation in 2017.