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BANGKOK, Nov. 5-- China and Thailand on Tuesday pledged to expand cooperation in various areas and work together to facilitate trade and investment to boost regional connectivity and build a more open world economy. In a joint press statement released during Chinese Premier Li Keqiang's official visit to the Southeast Asian country, the two sides also agreed on closer cooperation and coordination in various multilateral platforms to address growing protectionism. China and Thailand agreed to respect each other's development path, share experiences and best practices in national governance, and understand and support each other's core interests and major concerns. The two sides said they welcome closer engagements and support more frequent exchanges between the two countries' government agencies, legislative bodies, political parties, armed forces and local authorities. The two countries, which enjoy a comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership, highlighted in the statement the significance of economic and infrastructure cooperation in enhancing growth and prosperity of the two countries, the sub-region and the region as a whole. According to the statement, the two sides agreed to build the China-Thailand railway into a successful example in bilateral cooperation within the Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) framework, and vowed to speed up the implementation of the railway project connecting Thailand's Nong Khai and Laos' Vientiane, and increase railway connections among the three countries. | 
