On 3 August 2009, Dato’ Syed Ariff Fazillah bin Syed Awalludin, President of the Malaysia-Thai Association (MTA), together with government, private sector, and academic representatives from Malaysia, paid a courtesy call on Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.The visit was an initiative of the Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur to further strengthen bilateral relations and foster the exchange of views between high-level representatives from the two countries. Gist as follows:
Both sides discussed ways to resolve the problems in the southern border provinces of Thailand. Foreign Minister Kasit expressed his appreciation for Malaysia’s close cooperation on the matter. He also voiced support for the sharing of education best practices from Malaysia, which combined a standard curriculum with a religious one. Both sides shared views on various issues include the political situation. In addition, Foreign Minister Kasit stressed that as part of ASEAN community building, the region’s academic sector should conduct a joint review of regional history to better understand the historical roots of their community.
Foreign Minister Kasit hosted a luncheon in honour of the group, which is also scheduled to pay a courtesy call on Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva and meet with high-level officials of the Thai public and private sectors.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th