Singapore, Thailand hold ministerial meeting on bilateral economic ties

Singapore's Minister for Trade and Industry Lim Hng Kiang and Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan co-chaired here the 3rd Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Economic Relationship Ministerial Meeting on Monday. The city-state's ministry of trade and industry said in a statement that the two sides noted good progress made in areas such as Infocomm Technology cooperation and agriculture and food cooperation during the ministerial meeting. "Both sides also discussed ways to deepen cooperation in tourism, infrastructure and trade facilitation," the ministry added. According to official data, the bilateral trade between Singapore and Thailand rose by 0.8 percent on year to 32.2 billion Singapore dollars (25.8 billion U.S. dollars) last year. Thailand was Singapore's 10th trading partner in 2012, while Singapore was Thailand's 7th largest trading partner. According to data from Bank of Thailand, Singapore was also the second largest investor in Thailand last year, with accumulated foreign direct investment worth 24.1 billion U.S. dollars.