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BANGKOK: Authorities in Thailand on Tuesday proposed a bilateral cooperation plan to strengthen the country’s newly restored relations with Saudi Arabia, a government spokesperson said, as a high-profile investment delegation from Riyadh arrived in Bangkok.
A Saudi delegation of 150 representatives of state-owned and private enterprises led by Investment Minister Khalid Al-Falih participated on Monday in the Thai-Saudi Investment Forum organized in Bangkok by the Thai government.
A similar forum was held by Saudi authorities in Riyadh in May, following the resumption of bilateral relations earlier this year. “Today, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has proposed a draft of a plan to strengthen bilateral relations between Thailand and Saudi Arabia in 2022 to 2024. The plan was submitted to the Cabinet and the Cabinet approved it,” Thai government deputy spokesperson Ratchada Thanadirek said in a press conference.
“The mobilization to strengthen the relations between Thailand and Saudi Arabia has been happening since the time the Thai prime minister paid an official state visit to Saudi Arabia earlier this year.
“There have been mobilizations of cooperation in trade, investment, and Thai labor export to Saudi Arabia. These have been happening continuously.”
She added that the cooperation plan would be signed with Saudi Arabia during an expected visit of Crown Prince Mohammed bin Salman this month.
The crown prince has been invited as a special guest by the Thai leadership to attend the upcoming Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit in Bangkok on Nov. 18 and 19.
“The two nations will sign a memorandum of understanding between the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia on the establishment of the Saudi-Thai Coordination Council,” Thanadirek added.
“This will be a structure for coordination, consultation, and discussion on the topics that both Thailand and Saudi Arabia are interested in.”
Ties between Saudi Arabia and Thailand stalled in the 1980s and were renewed in late January, following Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha’s visit to Riyadh, on the invitation of the crown prince.
It was the first top leadership meeting between the two kingdoms in more than three decades.
Since the restoration of ties, many agreements and official visits have followed. The two governments have also signed a series of cooperation deals.
The current plan to strengthen relations covers the areas of politics, security, visa procedures, as well as energy cooperation, exports of petrochemicals, food, construction, and consumer products, and cooperation in e-sports and sports tourism.
“These will be highly beneficial to Thai business owners,” Thanadirek said.
Visit Limlurcha, vice chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce, who attended the Thai-Saudi Investment Forum on Monday, told Arab News that Saudi Arabia’s dependence on food imports presented opportunities for Thai producers.
Although Saudi Arabia is one of the most food-secure countries in the world, it relies heavily on imports, through which it meets about 80 percent of its food needs.
“Food is one of Saudi Arabia’s main imported goods. They really do focus on importing foods,” said Limlurcha, who also serves as the chairman of Thailand’s Processed Food and Future Food Committee.
“We have a lot of food products, apart from halal food that can serve the needs of Saudi Arabia.”
He saw export potential also in other sectors such as auto parts, cosmetics, and jewelry.
The investment that Saudi Arabia may attract from Thailand — which has long-established expertise in tourism promotion — is in the hospitality sector.
“The industry that Saudi Arabia wants Thailand to invest more is tourism and hotels. Saudi Arabia has been trying to open up their country and wants more people to visit,” Limlurcha said.
Monday’s forum, he added, gave Thai businesspeople an opportunity to do business-matching with their Saudi partners.
He said: “The atmosphere at the forum yesterday was bustling.
“The resumption of relations will give great opportunities to businesspeople in both Thailand and in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabia has a lot of businesspeople, who are willing to invest.
“The state of relations before made trade difficult, but now the opportunities come knocking on our door,” he added.
DENPASAR: When world leaders arrive for the G20 summit in Bali, they will be picked up by electric vehicles in a symbolic move showcasing Indonesia’s commitment to energy transition.
The upcoming summit will take place on Nov. 15 to 16, culminating Indonesia’s presidency of the group of 20 biggest economies and more than 200 working group meetings and side events held throughout the year.
The largest Muslim-majority nation and the world’s fourth most populous, Indonesia had focused its chairmanship of G20 on steering post-coronavirus pandemic recovery, energy transition, and digital transformation.
Hosting G20 events this year has also been an opportunity for the Southeast Asian country to promote its potential of becoming a regional hub for manufacturing electric vehicles — an industry the Indonesian government has been developing in recent years.
EVs are set to be the only mode of transportation during the summit in Bali, and the host country has prepared more than 1,400 vehicles — 962 electric cars, 454 electric motorcycles, and 36 electric buses — to shuttle delegates, journalists, and security personnel in and around the main venues.
“The Indonesian government is very serious about entering renewable energy, which includes moving toward using electric vehicles,” Adita Irawati, a transportation ministry spokesperson, told Arab News ahead of the summit.
One of the world’s emitters of carbon dioxide, Indonesia announced in October a new target to cut emissions levels by 31.89 percent on its own, which is a target more ambitious than its Paris Agreement pledge. It also hopes to achieve net zero emissions by 2060.
Irawati said the transportation ministry was committed to reducing exhaust emissions from fossil fuel-based vehicles and that the Indonesian government had set a goal to have 2 million EVs hit the country’s roads by 2025.
“We have also developed an ecosystem for electric vehicles, so that Indonesia is not only a market or consumer of electric vehicles, but also a producer of electric vehicles, because we have the natural resources producing components for electric vehicles,” she added.
Indonesia is the world’s largest miner of nickel, a crucial component for EV batteries. In August, it signed a deal with the world’s top EV producer Tesla for $5 billion worth of nickel products over the next five years.
The introduction of EVs during the G20 summit is seen as a symbolic step toward meeting Indonesia’s 2060 net zero emissions and a display of its potential to do so.
“It is a step in the right direction, and I am happy that Indonesia decided to show it to the world at the G20,” Agus Sari, environmentalist and chief executive of Landscape Indonesia, which focuses on sustainable landscape management, told Arab News.
“The use of electric vehicles during the G20 shows a symbol of the beginning of a transformation.”
PHNOM PENH: United States President Joe Biden said on Sunday that his country, Japan and South Korea were “more aligned than ever” on North Korea, which he added has continued its “provocative behavior.”
Speaking in Cambodia after a trilateral meeting with Japanese Prime Minister Fumio Kishida and South Korean President Yoon Suk-yeol, Biden called their countries “critical allies” that share the United States’ concerns about North Korea’s missile tests.
South Korea’s Yoon said the North’s recent provocations showed its regime’s “nature against humanitarianism,” while Japan’s Kishida said its actions were “unprecedented” and more provocations could be expected from Pyongyang.
“This trilateral summit is timely given we are expecting further provocation,” Kishida said in opening remarks at the three-way meeting.
“I look forward to strengthening the coordination between the US, South Korea, and Japan to respond firmly” to North Korea’s actions, he added.
Biden said he also discussed with them expanding coordinated support for Ukraine in the war with Russia, maintaining peace and stability in the Taiwan Strait, and working toward “common goals of a free and open Indo-Pacific.”
PHNOM PENH: Russia’s foreign minister on Sunday accused the United States of driving increased militarization in Southeast Asia, saying that Washington was trying to contain Beijing and Moscow’s influence in the region.
Sergei Lavrov was speaking to reporters at Phnom Penh’s airport after attending the East Asia Summit in Cambodia — and before flying to Bali for the G20 summit where China’s leader Xi Jinping and US President Joe Biden will meet.
Earlier on Sunday, Biden said he would establish “red lines” with Xi.
Washington is attempting to boost its influence in Southeast Asia, worried by Beijing’s increasingly assertive behavior in the region, which it views as its strategic backyard.
Lavrov accused the United States of pushing the “militarization of this region, clearly aimed at containing China and limiting Russian interests in the region.”
As the Ukraine invasion has ground on, and with Western sanctions biting, Russia has pivoted toward Southeast Asia in an attempt to shore up its battered economy.
Lavrov called Washington’s strategy — which has seen the United States push for closer relations with Southeast Asian nations — “not inclusive and that compete with the inclusive structures created around ASEAN.”
The regional summit in Cambodia has been dominated by international concerns, as first Ukraine and then the US-China rivalry overshadowed local concerns such as Myanmar.
TAIPEI: China’s military flew 36 fighter jets and bombers near Taiwan, the Taiwanese defense ministry announced, part of a long-running campaign of intimidation against the self-ruled island democracy that Beijing claims as part of its territory.
Ten of the aircraft on Saturday flew across the median line in the Taiwan Strait that separates the island from the mainland, the ministry said. It said they included six Shenyang J-11 and four J-16 aircraft.
Taiwan and China split in 1949 following a civil war that ended with the Communist Party in control of the mainland. The island never has been part of the People’s Republic of China, but Beijing says it is obliged to unite with the mainland, by force if necessary.
Chinese President Xi Jinping’s government stepped up efforts this year to intimidate Taiwan. It has sent fighter planes and bombers to fly near the island and fired missiles into the sea.
On Saturday, Taiwan’s military also spotted four Chengdu J-10 fighters, a Y-8 antisubmarine warfare plane and three H-6 bombers southwest of the island, the Ministry of Defense said on its website. It said three Chinese drones also were detected.
PHNOM PENH: Cambodian leader Hun Sen called for unity Sunday, telling a gathering including Russia, China and the United States that current global tensions have been taking a toll on everyone.
The prime minister, whose country holds the rotating chair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, said at the opening of the East Asia Summit that it was in the world’s common interest to cooperate to solve differences peacefully.
The comments come as regional tensions remain high between the United States and China over Taiwan and Beijing’s growing regional aspirations, and while the Russia invasion of Ukraine has disrupted global supply chains, causing rising energy and food prices far beyond Europe.
Without singling out any nation by name, Hun Sen said he hoped leaders would embrace a “spirit of togetherness in upholding open and inclusive multilateralism, pragmatism and mutual respect in addressing the existential and strategic challenges we all face.”
“Many current challenges and tensions have been hindering our past hard-earned efforts to promote sustainable development and causing greater hardship to people’s lives,” he said as he opened the meeting, which is running in parallel to the ASEAN group’s main summit.
Participants included US President Joe Biden and Chinese Prime Minister Li Keqiang, and it comes just a day before the highly anticipated meeting between Biden and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the Group of 20 summit in Bali.
Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov was also taking part in the meetings, which also included the leaders of Australia, New Zealand, South Korea, Japan and others.
On Saturday, Biden promised that the US would work with ASEAN, telling leaders of the strategically vital coalition that “we’re going to build a better future that we all want to see” in the region where US rival China is also working to expand its influence.
He promised to collaborate to build a region that is “free and open, stable and prosperous, resilient and secure.”
“I look forward to continuing our work together with ASEAN and with each one of you to deepen peace and prosperity throughout the region to resolve challenges from the South China Sea to Myanmar and to find innovative solutions to shared challenges,” Biden said, citing climate and health security among areas of collaboration.
Li Keqiang, meantime, told a meeting of ASEAN, China, Japan and South Korea that amid a “turbulent” global security situation, “unilateralism and protectionism are surging, economic and financial risks are rising, and global development is confronted with unprecedented challenges.”
As major economies in East Asia, Li said the group needed to “stay committed to promoting peace, stability, development and prosperity in the region and beyond, and to improving the people’s well-being.”