Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva is slated to start his maiden Indonesian trip Friday as the two Southeast Asian giants look to boost ties.

Shortly after his arrival, Abhisit will hold talks with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono on a range of issues, including Thai-Indonesian bilateral relations and ASEAN, which Thailand currently chairs.

On Thursday, presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Abhisit’s visit was intended as a courtesy call on Yudhoyono, a long-standing tradition shared among newly elected leaders of ASEAN countries.

On Saturday, the prime minister will deliver a speech at the ASEAN Secretariat, before returning home.

Abhisit will be making his first official visit to Indonesia since his inauguration in December

last year.

Bangkok-based daily The Nation reported that the plight of Myanmar’s stateless Muslim minority Rohingya would be high on the agenda during Abhisit’s visit to

Indonesia.

Government spokesman Panithan Wattanayagorn said Thursday that Thailand and Indonesia had agreed to address the issue in a multinational setting under an existing forum called the Bali Process.

Co-chaired by Indonesia and Australia, the Bali Process brings participants together to work on practical measures to help combat people smuggling, trafficking in persons and related transnational crimes in the region.

Ties between Thailand and Indonesia have so far mutually benefitted both countries.

Economic ties between the two countries have gone from strength to strength over the years. In 2007, bilateral trade was valued at US$7.3 billion; while in the first 10 months of 2008 that figure rose to $8.7 billion.

A separate group of Thai government officials is currently in Indonesia as part of efforts to boost cooperation in the field of higher education between the two countries.

Led by Sumate Yamnoo, secretary-general of the Thai Education Ministry, the Thailand Commission on Higher Education Delegation will be in the country for three days.

On Thursday, delegation members met with Indonesia’s director general for higher education, Fasli Jalal, and discussed possible cooperation in the sector.

Fasli said that while Indonesia was interested in learning more about information and communication technology, agriculture, tourism and economics from Thailand, the Thai delegation expressed their interest in learning about culture, art and engineering from Indonesia.

On Friday the delegation will visit three Indonesian universities in Jakarta and hear a presentation on international programs on offer at several top Indonesian universities, including Yogyakarta’s Gadjah Mada University and the Bandung Institute of Technology.

The delegation will head back to Thailand on Saturday.

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