BANGKOK - Thailand's cabinet is to hold its first joint meeting with leaders of Kedah later this month, officials said today.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's spokesman Yongyut Tiyapirat said the latest in a series of "mobile" cabinet meetings will be held in the southern border province of Songkhla Dec 21-22, with Kedah state cabinet members crossing the border for the meeting.

"We will talk about general cooperation such as in the fishery and tourism industries, and expanding the opening times of border checkpoints," Yongyut said.

The meeting is not to address regional terrorism because it is a subject of frequent conversation between the two national governments, he added.

Thailand's armed forces chief General Surayud Chulanont admitted recently that suspected terrorists had snuck into Thailand over the past 12 months to avoid a clampdown in neighbouring Malaysia.

Surayud told the Bangkok Post last week that while there was no concrete evidence extremists were planning attacks in Thailand, police were monitoring their movements.

A series of media reports has shone the terror spotlight onto Thailand's five Muslim-majority provinces bordering Malaysia, claiming that terrorists had met, trained and planned attacks there. AFP