PM Lawrence Wong at the Joint Press Conference with Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra (Nov 2024)

Prime Minister Paetongtarn
 
I thank the Prime Minister for your warm hospitality and kind words. I am delighted to make my introductory visit to Thailand today and I am honoured to be the first official foreign visitor to Thailand since your appointment.  
 
Singapore and Thailand are old friends, with a strong and substantive relationship. We have very strong trade and investment linkages and our defence establishments also enjoy close and longstanding cooperation. Singapore, in particular, thanks Thailand for its longstanding support for the SAF’s training in Thailand.  
 
We are both pioneers in digital finance – we set up the PayNow-PromptPay linkage back in 2021, and that was the world’s first fast cross-border payment system. And we have also launched the first Depository Receipts Linkage in ASEAN between our stock exchanges – this allows stocks to be traded on each other’s stock exchange. And that is also the first in Southeast Asia.
 
Both the Prime Minister and I had a good discussion earlier, as she had mentioned, on how our two countries can build on this close connectivity and strong foundation to expand to new areas of cooperation.   
 
One area is the green economy. We are keen to work with Thailand on carbon credits. Thailand itself is stepping up its production of green power, including hydrogen and biofuels. So we can work towards an Implementation Agreement on carbon credits collaboration, which would open up new opportunities for our companies.   
 
Another area is food security. In fact, we have discussed this back in October when we met in Laos, in the ASEAN Summit; Prime Minister then updated me then about her priorities in food security. This is also important for Singapore, as we import most of what we consume, and we are continually looking to enhance our food security. So, I am happy that both sides have agreed to come together, discuss ways in which we can strengthen our collaboration in this area.   
 
Now, Singapore and Thailand have much to be optimistic about. We are not only strengthening our bilateral ties, but also working together as part of ASEAN. And ASEAN has tremendous potential to be a key centre of economic growth for our region, given our diverse markets, our size, and youthful population. But to maximise ASEAN’s potential, we need to accelerate the integration of our economies.  
  
So one area is to strengthen our digital connectivity. And I thank Thailand for the hard work that it has put in, as Chair of the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA), that will deepen the integration of the digital economy for ASEAN, and Singapore supports fully Thailand’s leadership in this area. 
 
Another area of integration is in our Power Grid. We now have a power link from Lao PDR to Thailand, Malaysia, and Singapore. We look forward to Thailand’s support for Phase 2 of this power integration project. This will form the building block for a broader ASEAN Power Grid, which can help to strengthen our energy resilience and sustainability.  
 
Of course, the strong partnership between Thailand and Singapore is built on very close people-to-people ties. Many of our citizens study, live and work in each other’s countries. And there are frequent tourist flows between our two countries. These exchanges enrich both our societies and deepen our connections.   
 
Earlier, the Prime Minister and I witnessed the signing of the MOU on Postgraduate Scholarships for Thai civil servants. This builds on a longstanding exchange that we already have between our two civil services, and I hope the MOU that we are signing, and the exchange of students will facilitate even more mutual learning and sharing of best practices between our officials, as well those from ASEAN and beyond.   
 
And finally, I would like say I look forward to Prime Minister and her spouse visiting Singapore next year, when we mark the 60th anniversary of diplomatic ties, as well as other high-level visits that will happen between the leadership of our two countries. The 60th anniversary will be a timely occasion for us to showcase the progress made in the various areas we discussed today; whether it is on food, energy, or digital connectivity; and look at new ways in which we can bring more benefits to our people and bring our people even closer together.  
 
So, I look forward to working with Prime Minister Paetongtarn to take our relations to even greater heights. Thank you once again.

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