Thai Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra has hosted Singaporean Prime Minister Lawrence Wong during his first official visit to Thailand on November 28th, 2024, highlighting 60 years of diplomatic ties and renewing Thai-Singaporean collaboration on people-to-people ties, green investment, trade, and ASEAN connectivity.
At a press conference held at the Government House, Prime Minister Paetongtarn expressed her honor and delight in welcoming Prime Minister Wong, the first foreign leader to officially visit Thailand since took office.
She reflected on their earlier meetings at the ASEAN summits in Laos and the APEC meetings in Peru, while saying that this visit “provides a chance to take stock of existing collaborations and chart a course for future ones.” The Thai premier added that she will reciprocate with an official visit to Singapore to “follow-up and follow through” on their discussions here.
Education, human resources, and tourism
Both nations are preparing to celebrate the 60th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Thailand and Singapore in 2025, marked by an increase in people-to-people programs and high-level exchanges. To this end, the leaders witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding (MoU) between Thailand’s Office of the Civil Service Commission and Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs, paving the way for closer cooperation between the Thai and Singaporean governments.
Singapore, renowned for its high-skilled workforce and human resources development, has pledged to offer scholarships to Thai civil servants as well as educational exchanges, providing opportunities to reskill & upskill workers to meet the challenges of a rapidly evolving world.
Meanwhile, Thailand’s soft power initiatives appear to be paying dividends, as the two leaders agree to promote cultural assets including Thai films, music (T-Pop), and Muay Thai, which are popular in Singapore, as well as cruise tourism.
Food, energy, and regional security
Following their discussions, both leaders also stressed the importance of strengthening food and energy security. Thailand aims to support Singapore’s food security by exporting premium rice and organic eggs, while also enhancing collaboration in renewable energy and green technology in pursuit of each country’s carbon neutrality and net-zero emissions commitments.
Other areas of collaboration include defense and cybersecurity. Thailand and Singapore have pledged to expand joint military training, knowledge sharing on modern defense technologies, and tackling cyber threats. A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) will bolster collaboration on cybersecurity, AI governance, combating online fraud, and on the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement. Thailand, as the chair of the negotiation committee for the Agreement, aims to conclude the negotiations by 2025.
Thailand and Singapore have previously enjoyed major digital milestones, including the world’s first real-time payment linkage between Singapore’s PayNow and Thailand’s PromptPay, ASEAN’s first depository receipts linkage between their respective stock exchanges, and a first-of-its-kind civil aviation data sharing agreement between Singapore (as data analyst), Thailand (as data custodian), Malaysia, Indonesia, and the Philippines.
At the regional level, the two leaders reaffirmed their commitment to fostering peace and stability in Myanmar, with Paetongtarn expressing hope that an upcoming informal consultation between ASEAN member nations in Bangkok would pave the way for constructive solutions.
A strong foundation for the future
As Thailand and Singapore commemorate six decades of friendship, both nations are eager to build on their strong foundation. Prime Minister Paetongtarn expressed her hope to deepen, strengthen, and expand cooperation in all areas.
Prime Minister Wong echoed her sentiments, saying, “Singapore and Thailand are old friends. We have a strong and substantive relationship,” pointing to robust trade and investment linkages, and longstanding collaboration between their defense establishments.
“I look forward to working with Prime Minister Paetongtarn to take our relations to even greater heights,” Wong concluded.
Teerin Julsawad 
Paul Rujopakarn