The long-term friendship between Vietnam and Thailand, especially agricultural cooperation, will bring great benefits to two countries' people, Thai Minister of Agriculture and Cooperatives Chalermchai Sri-on has said.

He made the statement at a working session with Vietnamese Ambassador to Thailand Phan Chi Thanh on April 28.

The meeting took place after the 4th meeting of the Thailand-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee (JTC) in Bangkok on April 20, during which both sides agreed to resolve bottlenecks in economic cooperation.

Thailand is a major investor in Vietnam’s agricultural sector, and the largest trading partner of Vietnam in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with two-way trade turnover reaching 18.8 billion USD last year, of which agricultural products accounted for about 10 percent.

Thailand was asked to create more favourable conditions for the import of fruit and nuts from Vietnam to ensure a trade balance.

He suggested the two countries work closely together to ensure food security and provide agricultural products to markets in the region.

Ambassador Thanh asked Thailand's Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives and the Vietnamese Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development to resume working visits and meetings at levels, while at the same time enhancing information sharing as well as promoting cooperation in agricultural trade and market development. A new Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on collaboration between the two ministries should be signed soon to facilitate cooperation activities in the new context, he said.

For his part, Minister Chalermchai highly appreciated the working session, saying it is a milestone for the resumption of agricultural cooperation activities between the two sides a two-year hiatus due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

He affirmed the MAC will consider the ambassador's proposals and set up a joint working group to remove bottlenecks.

He also agreed to restart bilateral exchanges between the two ministries at all levels, and suggested they strengthen coordination to resolve outstanding issues and make agricultural cooperation between the two sides more effective./.