Thailand is ready to welcome 100k Myanmar refugees

KUALA LUMPUR, Thai Foreign Minister Parnpree Bahiddha-Nukara announced, Tuesday, Thailand's readiness in welcoming 100,000 Myanmar refugees as a result of the ongoing Myanmar civil war since 2021. In a press statement, Bahidda-Nukara said that Thailand can accommodate 100,000 people temporarily; underscoring that Thailand's borders are still open with Myanmar despite a 30 percent decline in trade in the past year. The Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin expressed his concerns regarding the escalating situation on the border, met with high-level Thai officials to discuss these issues, and attempted to bring back negotiations with all parties in conflict, added Bahidda-Nukara. Local reports mentioned violent clashes recently in Myanmar's Myawaddy Town, bordering Thailand's Mae Sot, where a number of refugees border cross to Thailand. The Myawaddy-Mae Sot crossing is considered the third busiest land border crossing between the two countries, where goods and commodities worth USD 1.1 billion have passed throug h in the last 12 months, according to the Ministry of Commerce of the military junta in Myanmar. Thailand shares a 2,400-kilometer border with Myanmar, which is going through a civil war between armed tribal and political groups opposed to the junta that overthrew the democratically elected government in a coup d'état in 2021. A junta is a military or political group that rules a country after taking power by force. Source: Kuwait News Agency