At the BRICS Foreign Ministers’ Meeting in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, over April 28-29, Thailand Foreign Minister Maris Sangiampongsa, whose nation just became a partner country of BRICS on January 1, pushed forward economic projects with its BRICS partners by holding bilateral meetings with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi and Russia Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov.
Pattaya Mail reported on May 1 that “during discussions with Chinese Foreign Minister Wang Yi, Maris explored closer cooperation in combating transnational crime, advancing investment and transport projects, and working within regional frameworks such as Mekong-Lancang Cooperation.” Thailand is already engaged in several infrastructure projects with China, including building its 609 km portion of a high-speed railway that will connect it with China through Laos. This is a joint project involving the China Railway No. 10 Engineering Group and Italian-Thai Development Public Company Limited, which is scheduled to be completed in 2030. This, in turn, is part of a larger regional connectivity plan to link China, Laos, Vietnam, and Thailand by high-speed rail. Chinese-Thai trade reached $107 billion in 2024.