ASEAN Summit 2015 ends, Thailand backs united roles of ASEAN

BANGKOK, April 29 (TNA) - The ASEAN Summit 2015 and related forums, held in Malaysia from April 26-28, have been concluded, with Thailand calling for united roles of member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha represented Thailand to attend the 26th ASEAN Summit, themed “Our People, Our Community, Our Vision”, held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia's capital, and Langkawi Island, during which he made the call. The Thai prime minister also joined other ASEAN leaders in endorsing the Kuala Lumpur Declaration on A People-Oriented, People-Centered ASEAN, the Langkawi Declaration on the Global Movement of Moderates and the Declaration on Institutionalizing the Resilience of ASEAN and its Communities and Peoples to Disasters and Climate Change. The Thai prime minister also attended the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Summit to follow up the implementation of relevant plans over the past 20 years and push for the implementation of second-phase plans from 2012 to 2016. On the occasion, the Thai leader also emphasized Thailand's development in seven areas, including the joint development of special economic zones, the development of land, air and maritime transport, the development of fisheries and the development of agriculture, natural rubber and oil palm. The Thai prime minister told the IMT-GT) Summit that Thailand will host an international conference on fisheries in May. The Thai prime minister also had bilateral talks with his Vietnamese counterpart Nguyen Tan Dung, during which both sides confirmed cooperation between Hanoi and Bangkok on connectivity by land, sea and air and their intention to raise the value of mutual trade to 15 billion US dollars over the next five years. Besides, the Thai prime minister held bilateral talks with his Malaysian counterpart Najib Razak, during which the Thai leader expressed gratitude for Malaysia’s role in facilitating peace negotiations between the Thai government and representatives of insurgency groups in the Thai far South and insisted on Thai authorities' adherence to peaceful and participatory solutions, while the Malaysian side assured Kuala Lumpur's support for a timely new-round negotiation. (TNA)