THAI Prime Minister Prayuth Chan o Cha will start a two-day visit to Saudi Arabia tomorrow, following an invitation from the kingdom’s Crown Prince Mohammed Salman.

The visit is the first by a Thai prime minister in three decades and hints at the restoration of relations following a downgrade in diplomatic ties between the two countries in 1989.

“Prayuth, who is also defence minister, will meet the Crown Prince to strengthen and promote bilateral relations between the two countries,” said a statement from the Thai Foreign Ministry.

Media reported that Riyadh downgraded its diplomatic ties with Bangkok following the theft of jewels worth some US$20 million (RM83 million), including a rare 50-carat blue diamond, by a Thai janitor working at the palace of a Saudi prince in 1989.

Thai police recovered and returned some of the stolen jewels following the theft – dubbed the The Blue Diamond Affair – but Saudi officials claimed that they were mostly fake.

The fate of the rare blue diamond remains a mystery.

To make matters worse, three Saudi diplomats were slain in the same day in Thailand in 1990, while businessman Mohammad al-Ruwaili, who was sent to investigate the missing jewellery, was reported to have disappeared in Bangkok.

A Thai criminal court dismissed a case against five men, including a senior police officer, charged with murdering Mohammad in 2014.

Saudi Arabia has not sent an ambassador to Thailand for decades and restricts travel between both countries. – Bernama, January 24, 2022.