Malaysia and Thailand resolve fisheries row, to develop special economic border zone

KUALA LUMPUR: The leaders of Malaysia and Thailand said on Thursday they would work on developing a special border economic zone, and had resolved an issue that had disrupted trade in seafood between the neighbours.

In May, Thailand restricted the import of Malaysian-caught sea bass due to concerns over chemical residues, prompting Kuala Lumpur to temporarily ban some varieties of Thai shrimp over food safety controls last month.

“We have resolved this outstanding issue of fisheries … we agree it should be effected in one week,” Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim told reporters following a meeting with his Thai counterpart, Anutin Charnvirakul, in Malaysia’s administrative capital Putrajaya.

Anutin is on a two-day visit to Malaysia that is aimed at boosting economic cooperation and smoothing over longstanding border issues between the Southeast Asian neighbours.

The leaders agreed to proceed with developing a special border economic zone, and to facilitate exchanges in immigration customs between the two countries, Anwar said. They also witnessed the signing of a memorandum of understanding on agricultural cooperation.

On Friday, Anutin and Anwar will travel to the northern Malaysian state of Kedah to jointly open a new border crossing linked to Thailand’s customs and immigration complex in Sadao, Songkhla province.

Their visit comes amid renewed security concerns following a recent spike in violence tied to the decades-old separatist insurgency in Thailand’s predominantly Malay-Muslim southern border provinces.

“Ending the violence and addressing the challenges in Thailand’s southern border provinces remains a top priority for my government,” Anutin said at the media briefing.

Two Malaysians were injured in a roadside bomb in Narathiwat’s Tak Bai district in late June, prompting both countries to tighten border security measures.