Thailand and the Philippines announce MoUs aimed at military modernisation

Thailand and the Philippines have signed memoranda of understandings (MoUs) with potential military suppliers as part of continuing efforts to modernise their respective armed forces.

An MoU between Thailand and South Korea calls for the two countries' defence industries to collaborate on research and development based on potential sales of Korean materiel, while an accord between the Philippines and Canada seeks to facilitate expanded government-to-government defence trade.

The agreements were signed in Bangkok and Manila on 10 November during respective state visits by South Korean President Lee Myung-bak and Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper.

A statement by the Thai government said the defence MoU with South Korea calls for expanded bilateral collaboration in activities related to anti-terrorism and disaster relief, as well as joint research and development programmes and co-operation between the two countries' defence industries.

Other agreements cover expanded collaboration in areas such as information and communication technologies, trade and investment, energy and infrastructure development. These deals are targeted at boosting bilateral annual trade across all sectors from USD1.4 billion in 2011 to USD3 billion by 2016, said the Thai government in a statement.