Defence minister Hishammuddin Hussein said the MoU, expected to be finalised by the end of this year, would cement military-to-military ties, and explore new areas of cooperation in defence industries and technology.

“Thai defence minister Prayuth Chan o-cha and I have tasked our senior officials to finalise this MoU before the end of the year,” he said in a statement.

Hishammuddin is currently on a two-day working visit to Bangkok at the invitation of Prayuth to attend the Defence & Security 2022 gathering at the Impact Exhibition and Convention Centre.

He had earlier held a bilateral meeting with Prayuth on the sidelines of the event.

Both countries are involved in three armed force exercises this year — Air Thamal, Land Thamal and Sea Thamal.

Hishammuddin said Malaysia and Thailand also participated in the Cobra Gold, a multilateral exercise co-hosted by Thailand and the US this year.

Hishammuddin said he also took the opportunity to convey to Prayuth that the defence ministers of Indonesia and Singapore had supported Malaysia’s proposal to elevate the Malacca Straits Patrol (MSP) by introducing a quadrilateral ministerial meeting among the participating nations.

“Prayuth welcomed the proposal and looks forward to hosting the quadrilateral ministerial meeting in Thailand later this year,” he said.