PM attends ASEAN-Australia Special Summit in Australia

BANGKOK, March 16 (TNA) -- Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha attends an ASEAN-Australia meeting in Sydney on March 17 and 18. It is the first special summit of ASEAN and Australia as proposed by the Australian prime minister. Deputy government spokesman Werachon Sukondhapatipak said main topics in the meeting included the promotion of ASEAN-Australian ties, regional security and prosperity, concrete cooperation on strategic partnership, economy and anti-terrorism efforts, and regional and global strategies. On the occasion, Thailand would present development and equality as solutions to transnational crime instead of the use of forces and weapons. Thailand would also call for citizens’ connections and exchange at the level of national leaders, Lt Gen Werachon said. Prime Minister Prayut would have a bilateral talk with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull. He would ask Australian to consider the importance of Thailand as 70-year-long bilateral relations were not so much active in the past decade, Lt Gen Werachon said. Prime Minister Prayut would also take the opportunity to explain political situations in Thailand, the deputy government spokesman said. The summit will endorse the Sydney Declaration and the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for ASEAN-Australia cooperation. The MoU will be the framework for cooperation between ASEAN and Australia. The event will be the sixth ASEAN-Australia heads-of-government summit since 1977, but the first to be held in Australia. As a group, ASEAN is Australia’s third largest trading partner. This summit provides an important forum to discuss economic and security cooperation. The centrepiece of the ASEAN-Australia Special Summit will be the Leaders’ Summit and Retreat. There will also be two major side-events, which are a Business Summit ad a Counter-Terrorism Conference. (TNA)