BANGKOK, Feb. 5 -- Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o- cha met with Meng Jianzhu, a senior Chinese security official here on Thursday.

Meng, head of the Commission for Political and Legal Affairs of the Communist Party of China Central Committee and a special envoy of President Xi Jinping, conveyed an oral message from Xi to Prayut.

As the two countries are about to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the establishment of their diplomatic ties this year, China is willing to maintain close high-level exchanges with Thailand, strengthen strategic dialogue, and steadily promote bilateral cooperation in key areas including railway, trade, energy and education, Meng noted.

The two countries have conducted fruitful cooperation in law enforcement and security in the Mekong River basin, based on which China is willing to deepen information exchanges and pragmatic cooperation with Thailand in drug control, transnational organized crimes and cyber security, establish a comprehensive cooperation mechanism and jointly cope with global and regional security challenges, Meng added.

Prayut expressed gratitude toward President Xi's message and asked Meng to convey his best wishes. He said that the two countries should take the opportunity of the 40th anniversary of their diplomatic ties and vigorously boost bilateral cooperation in agriculture, infrastructure construction and tourism.

Thailand is grateful to China for its support for its reform and development, Prayut said, adding Thailand will actively participate in the China-proposed initiative of building the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road and the Silk Road Economic Belt.

Thailand wishes to further its collaboration with China in the area of security, he said.

During his visit, Meng also met with Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwon and other Thai political leaders.