Thailand- RI FM to Discuss Rohingya Refugees

Jakarta, MINA – Thailand Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai will meet with Indonesian Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi in Jakarta on Wednesday, in order to discuss several issues and work programs, including concerning humanitarian assistance for Rohingya refugees.

Through the ASEAN Coordination Center for Humanitarian Assistance in Disaster Management (AHA Center), it will carry out its mandate to assist the process of repatriating Rohingya refugees from Cox’s Bazar, Bangladesh, to Myanmar.

“Our focus now is to provide support for the AHA Center to assist the safe and dignified repatriation process, according to the agreement of the ASEAN Foreign Ministers at the meeting in Chiang Mai,” Foreign Ministry spokesman Armanatha Nasir said at the Foreign Ministry, Jalan Pejambon, Central Jakarta on Tuesday.

According to Nasir, this meeting was the third in the last three months to show the intensity of the relations between the two foreign ministers. It also happens that this year Thailand will be the Chair of ASEAN, so the issue that is the focus of attention for their bilateral meeting in ASEAN.

The Indo-Pacific meeting will also be the subject of discussion between the Indonesian and Thai Foreign Ministers, given the high level officials of ASEAN countries have been assigned by their respective foreign ministers to finalize the draft ASEAN general view of the Indo-Pacific concept.

In addition, the two foreign ministers will discuss efforts to strengthen economic cooperation between the two countries. The issue that is the main concern of Indonesia and Thailand as the world’s largest rubber producer is the decline in rubber prices.

Arrmanatha said the two countries would discuss joint efforts to try to stabilize rubber prices which in the past few months have continued to decline.

The trade value of Indonesia and Thailand shows a pretty good number. In 2018, the trade value of the two countries reached 17.77 billion US dollars.

Indonesia’s main export products to Thailand include machinery, electrical equipment, food, paper products, and vehicle accessories. Meanwhile, the products imported by Indonesia from Thailand are dominated by motor vehicles, metal and steel products, textiles, and food. (L/Sj/P2)

Mi’raj News Agency (MINA