Thai PM: ASEAN wants to solve South China Sea disputes through negotiations

BANGKOK, April 27 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister Yingkluck Shinawatra says that the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) wants ongoing maritime disputes in the South China Sea to be solved through peaceful negotiations and trust among parties concerned. Speaking during her weekly TV and radio broadcast Saturday morning, Yingluck told the public that the ASEAN government leaders agreed at the end of the two-day ASEAN Summit 2013 in Brunei Darussalam on April 25 that the territorial disputes in the South China Sea should be settled through peaceful means and Thailand, as the ASEAN coordinator with China, is prepared to host an informal meeting of the concerned parties to discuss details in which every country attended the latest ASEAN summit agreed. Yingluck revealed that she also attended the 7th Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT) Meeting, held as part of the 22nd ASEAN Summit, during which the three ASEAN neighbouring countries agreed on a five-year joint development plan for land, maritime and air. Yingluck acknowledged that Thailand also proposed for an improvement of sea transportation, covering the construction of new ports and logistics centres, and that government leaders of the three ASEAN neighbours discussed the possibility of joint development plans of halal food and the natural rubber industry, as the trio are among the world's major manufacturers and exporters of the products. (TNA)