Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkon sought Malaysia's help on Thursday in ending violence in the Thai Muslim south through joint development schemes for the region. Kantathi is the second minister to visit Malaysia in a week in what analysts say is a Thai effort to mend ties with its southern neighbour . Top of his agenda is how both sides can speed up the Joint Development Strategy (JDS) signed last year to develop Malaysia's four northern states and the adjacent five mostly Muslim southern provinces of Thailand. "We are working together at the bilateral level to develop jointly our border area, looking into capacity building, human resource development and most importantly, understanding between our people," Kantathi said after talks with his Malaysian counterpart, Syed Hamid Albar, according to Reuters. The JDS covered road links, trade, tourism, agriculture, energy, education, human resources and disaster relief, which would help make the relatively poor Thai south more prosperous and provide an incentive to end the violence. The two countries are also building another bridge across the Kolok river that constitutes their border. Syed Hamid said peace and security in southern Thailand were key to Malaysia and the region. "It is not the question of Malaysia giving aid to Thailand or Thailand giving aid to northern Malaysia. It is the question of joint undertaking that we will be doing," he said. Kantathi is due to meet Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi and former prime minister Mahathir Mohamad on Friday.
