M'sia Willing To Help Boost Southern Thailand Socio-Economic Development

KUALA LUMPUR, May 15 (Bernama) -- Malaysia is willing to provide support and skill trainings to workers from Southern Thailand to help boost their socio-economic development, say Malaysian Defence Minister Dr Ahmad Zahid Hamidi. He said the trainings could be in education and professional sectors, such as nursing, medical and engineering. Apart from that, he said Malaysia also welcomed Thai army officers to pursue their post-graduate studies at Universiti Pertahanan Nasional Malaysia (National Defence University of Malaysia, UPNM). He said this to reporters after receiving a courtesy call from Commander-in-Chief of Royal Thai Airforce, Ittiporn Sukphawong at Mindef here Monday. Ahmad Zahid said Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Tun Razak and his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra, during their recent meeting, had also agreed to help the Muslim community in Thailand. In another development, Ahmad Zahid said the Asean Defence Minister's Meeting scheduled for May 28 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia, was expected to discuss the issues of security stability in the South China Sea. The issues came to surface following a conflict between China and Philippine over a competing territorial claims in the South China Sea. The minister said the best method to resolve the conflict was through diplomatic channel and not through military channel. Ahmad Zahid said during the meeting, he would also proposed for a joint exercise among Asean member countries under the Humanitarian Assistance Disaster Relief (HADR) to be organised to strengthen the trust among military leaders in the region. -- BERNAMA