Lieutenant General Taraton Sriyabhanda, Deputy Commanding General National Defence Studies Institute (NDSI), Thailand, Friday called on General Tariq Majid, Chairman Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee (CJCSC) at Joint Staff Headquarters. During the meeting, both the dignitaries exchanged views on defence matters with emphasis on co-operation in military training between the two countries.
While discussing the mutual ties, Chairman JCSC said that Pakistan considers Thailand as an important country of South East Asia and the cordial bilateral relations form an important organ of "Vision East Asia Policy". Pakistan, therefore, is keen to further its relationship with Thailand to fully harness the potential for co-operation that exists between the two countries, he added.
He appreciated the support given by Thailand for Pakistan's entry into Asean Regional Forum (ARF) as well as Asia Europe Meeting (ASEM) and expressed hope to have similar support for Pakistan's candidature in "Full Dialogue Partnership" (FDP) of Asean. He also offered training facility for Thailand's officers in Pakistan Armed Forces institutions.
The visiting dignitary, who earlier had visited Heavy Industries Taxila, appreciated the defence industrial infrastructure and the whole range of equipment indigenously being produced by Pakistan, especially the Al-Khalid Tank. He reiterated the desire to bolster defence co-operation between the two friendly countries. The Thai general is visiting Pakistan to identify modalities and formulate framework for the affiliation of National Defence University of Pakistan with NDSI, Thailand.