(VOVworld) - Vietnamese and Thai enterprises should sincerely cooperate and actively share experiences and resources towards the success of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), which is scheduled to take shape later this year. Chairman of the Thailand-Vietnam Friendship Association Prachuap Chaiyasan, who is also the former Thai Foreign Minister, made the statement at a forum in Bangkok on Friday, adding that the intensification of their economic partnership will help attract more foreign investment into ASEAN and tap into natural and human resources of the bloc’s members. Chairman of the Vietnam-Thailand Friendship Association Ta Quang Ngoc noted the forum was a platform for the two sides to discuss opportunities and challenges to boost cooperation, helping to energise economic growth of the countries as well as the entire region: "ASEAN has become a dynamic and competitive economic zone which is expected to fully integrate into the global economy. Important progress in Vietnam-Thailand’s bilateral relations and ASEAN’s turning-point development steps will create both opportunities and challenges for businesses of both countries."

Participants at the forum pose for photo (Photo: VNA)

Thailand is currently Vietnam’s top ASEAN trading partner with two-way trade hoped to reach 20 billion USD by 2020. Their commercial activities will contribute to the development of the AEC, which has a combined population of 600 million and gross domestic product (GDP) of around 3 trillion USD.