Thailand and Laos will hold the second joint cabinet retreat (JCR) in
Chiang Mai later this week to discuss ways to boost bilateral
cooperation, Thai Foreign Ministry has announced.
The two countries are currently upgrading their two temporary border
passes to permanent status to strengthen trade and implement the
issuance of single visa.
The single-stop inspection
system is scheduled to be adopted at the first friendship bridge linking
Thailand’s Nong Khai and Laos’ capital city of Vientiane. It
is expected to reduce time for goods transport and boost exchanges.
During the retreat, the two sides will discuss the construction of two
additional friendship bridges crossing the Mekong River to foster
connectivity among countries in the sub-region.
The
fourth friendship bridge linking Thailand’s Chiang Kong province and
Huay Sai of Laos is expected to complete later this year, while
another one from Bung Karn in Thailand and Paksan in Laos will be
built soon.
Thailand and Laos have agreed to enhance the use of roads and Bangkok-Nong Khai railways to Laos and China.
The two sides also agreed to boost tourism promotion by applying
single visa, which is included in the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong
economic cooperation strategy.-VNA