Myanmar’s President Min Aung Hlaing began a two-day official visit to Thailand today at the invitation of Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul, with the two countries expected to strengthen cooperation on border trade, security, labour and energy.
Anutin welcomed Myanmar’s leader at Government House, where the two inspected a guard of honour before holding plenary talks.
During the closed-door discussions, the leaders were expected to exchange views on enhancing bilateral cooperation, focusing on cross-border issues, energy cooperation, trade facilitation and efforts to promote peace and stability along the Thai-Myanmar border.
The visit marks Min Aung Hlaing's fourth overseas trip since becoming Myanmar's president in April, following visits to China, India and Laos.
His trip also comes as Thailand seeks to encourage Myanmar's renewed engagement with ASEAN. Myanmar has been excluded from ASEAN summit meetings since the 2021 military coup.
Although Myanmar’s president has sought greater international acceptance since assuming the presidency following an election held without opposition parties, and has declared peace to be a priority, observers say Myanmar's military continues to intensify air strikes on civilians in the country's civil war, which has claimed more than 100,000 lives.
Observers claim that Thailand's engagement strategy received a boost earlier this week when Myanmar authorities allowed representatives of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) to meet detained former state counsellor Aung San Suu Kyi for the first time in several years.
Min Aung Hlaing and Anutin are scheduled to attend a Thailand-Myanmar Business Forum this afternoon.
The business community is hoping the visit will help revive bilateral trade, which has declined sharply in recent years due to political instability, armed conflict and disruptions to cross-border transport and logistics.
Agreements on labour cooperation are also expected to be signed during the visit to improve the management of Myanmar migrant workers in Thailand.
