Transcript of the joint doorstop interview of Minister for Foreign Affairs George Yeo and Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand Noppadon Pattama on 21 February 2008 at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Singapore

Minister Yeo: First let me say how honoured we feel in Singapore that Minister Noppadon should visit Singapore on a bilateral basis, his first after appointment as Foreign Minister. We feel very honoured by this. Of course, the Minister was here for the ASEAN Foreign Ministers' Retreat and he had to be fully involved in all the business of ASEAN from the beginning. He is very personable, everyone found him a very good colleague to work with and he became a part of the team, in no time. Last night, after the retreat, we began the bilateral visit and I hosted him to dinner, took him on a ride on the Singapore River and we landed at Raffles Landing Point. So we walked to the Memorial of King Chulalongkorn's Visit in 1871. Interestingly, in four languages, English in front, Thai at the back, one side in Chinese, the other side in Jawi, like a Rosetta Stone, commemorating the historic visit in 1871 when the Thai King travelled in order to preserve the independence of the Kingdom.

So it's a relationship which goes back a long time and Foreign Minister Noppadon told me that he would like to reconvene CSEP, the Civil Service Exchange Programme, as early as possible. I heartily agree and I'm looking forward to visiting Thailand, in the near future. Our officials will quickly set a date so that in the first half of this year, CSEP can be reconvened and on the Singapore side, we have the Singapore-Thailand Enhanced Economic Relationship, which is Singapore's turn to host. When I was Trade Minister, I hosted it together with Deputy Prime Minister Somkid and it's Singapore's turn to host and when we convene that meeting, we will see how along on a broad economic front we could push for even stronger relations in trade and investments between Thailand and Singapore. Minister also told me a piece of good news that the Thai Cabinet have just recently agreed for Thailand to participate in the joint patrol of the Straits of Malacca, the littoral states of Malaysia, Indonesia and Singapore. This is very good. This is very important. It will enhance the security of the world's most important waterway. So I'm delighted to have a new friend, Minister Noppadon, and I look forward to working with him to strengthen the relations between our two countries and our two people. So Minister Noppadon...

Minister Noppadon: Thank you. Yes, this is my first foreign visit to our friends and we attend ASEAN Foreign Ministers Retreat. It went extremely well because of the efficiency and effectiveness of the Chairman.

Minister George Yeo: Oh no, everyone worked very well together.

Minister Noppadon: My friend George and me, we can work well together. We thank (you) for your reception and hospitality, and I am very confident that Thailand and Singapore will work together and deepen and broaden our relationship even further. The relationship is already cordial and very good. We welcome foreign investments including investments from Singapore to Thailand and we are prepared to host the 8th CSEP, Civil Service Exchange Programme, in Thailand soon. We are going to let Minister know in 48 hours for the convenient date that it is acceptable for both of us, and we hope that Singapore will organise or host us here for Singapore-Thailand enhanced economic relationship soon after CSEP. As Minister George Yeo told you, we are prepared to participate in the coordinated patrol in the Straits of Malacca. Upon my return to Thailand, I'm going to check with the military, when it is possible to actually participate in the patrol.

Apart from that, we think as the Chairmanship of ASEAN, new chairman of ASEAN, we going to take up chairmanship for one and a half years. We are prepared to shoulder the burden and responsibilities. It's an honour to Thailand to do that and we will follow the standards set by Singapore when Minister George Yeo also competently chaired the meeting. We are going to host two Summits, December from 15 to 18 of this year and December next year. This is what we are planning to do and we will organise a ceremony to celebrate the entry into force of ASEAN Charter, in Thailand at the very table that five of... predecessors...former Foreign Ministers from five ASEAN countries signed Bangkok Declaration when we set up ASEAN in 1967, on the 8th of August. I wasn't born then (laughter). But all in all, our relationship will be even stronger and after restoration of democracy in Thailand, we welcome foreign investments.

One more issue - Myanmar. I told Mr George Yeo, as Thailand we are going to engage Myanmar more. We will offer to help, to share our experience regarding the holding of referendum of the Constitution. We will not approve the contents of the Constitution, whether it's democratic or not. It is (an) internal problem of Myanmar but we will do what we can to engage Myanmar more because problems in Myanmar could be transnational problems and it affects Thailand as its neighbour. Thank you.

Minister Yeo: If you have any one or two questions, we will be happy to take them?

Q: Do you mean the relationship between Thailand and Singapore has returned to normal after the coup in 2006?

Minister Yeo: Actually in the last few months, it had substantively gone back to normal and we are all looking at how we can raise it to an even higher level but the restoration of CSEP is an important signal that we are sending.

Q: How else do you intend to move ties closer between the two countries?

Minister Noppadon: Well I think as you can see, Minister George Yeo is a very likeable guy. He took us to (the) Singapore Flyer yesterday and I think we were at a high point and I think our relationship is at a high point. We will forge (and) deepen our relationship even further but it is already very, very good. I think we could say that we have normalised our relationship and that relationship is excellent. I even thanked him for taking care of over 40,000 Thai workers here.

Minister Yeo: Yes, we were talking about the contributions of the Thai community in Singapore, to Singapore's economy and well-being. They play a very important role; we are very appreciative to Thailand and to the Thai people in Singapore for all that they have done and we will help to look after them. That's my discussion with Minister Noppadon.

Minister Noppadon: Thank you.

Minister George Yeo: Thank you.

. . . . .