S'pore Supreme Commander visits Thailand

BANGKOK, July 23 (TNA) - Singapore's Supreme Commander Air Marshal Ng Chee Meng is paying an official visit to Thailand this week as the guest of the Royal Thai Armed Forces. Visiting Air Marshal Ng met Thai Army and National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) Chief General Prayuth Chan O-cha at the Royal Thai Army Headquarters in Bangkok on Wednesday morning, during which he said Singapore is pleased to continue working together with Thailand, the island state's long-time's allied neighbour, especially in bilateral military cooperation. The visiting Singapore armed forces chief also pledged to find more channels for expanding bilateral ties and cooperation with Thailand in education and extended his best wishes for Thailand to strongly get through the ongoing transitional period to achieve national goals. General Prayuth, in turn, told the visiting Singapore armed forces chief that the island state is one of Thailand's major allied nations and has closely cooperated with Bangkok in all areas so far. The NCPO chief also briefed the Singapore military chief on the updated domestic situation and asked for Singapore's support for Thailand's development toward sustainable democracy. Besides, the junta chief asked the Singapore Supreme Commander to help promote the Thai tourism by encouraging Singapore people to visit Thailand, where order has been restored. After a recent official visit to Thailand by Myanmar Commander-in-Chief General Min Aung Hlaing, the Singapore Supreme Commander is the second top military figure in the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) bloc to have visited the Thai Kingdom, in the wake of a military intervention by the NCPO on May 22, 2014 in order to restore national peace and order following a six-month domestic political strife. (TNA)