India, Thailand to double trade to $2 bn

Monday, 17 February 2003, 20:30 IST
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NEW DELHI: India and Thailand Friday decided to double their bilateral trade to $2 billion a year and speed up negotiations on a free trade agreement (FTA). While no roadmap was set for achieving the trade figure, India's External Affairs Minister Yashwant Sinha and his Thai counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai, co-chairing the bilateral joint commission meeting, decided to ask the joint negotiating team on FTA to finalise its report by July, instead of September, as originally planned. It was decided that the joint commission, which was meeting after a gap of seven years, would meet annually, indicating the intensifying of bilateral engagements in recent years. Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited India twice last year, while Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee paid a brief visit to Bangkok in November on his way home after attending the India-ASEAN (Association of South-East Asian Nations) summit in Cambodia. Deputy Prime Minister L.K. Advani visited Thailand this month. Reflecting the intensifying of bilateral cooperation, the Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO) Friday offered to develop, design and launch a remote-sensing satellite for Thailand that would help in crop and rainfall assessment and other related activities. India-Thailand relations also have multilateral dimension, as the two countries as the two are partners in a number of forums, including ASEAN, ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF), Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka, Thailand-Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) and the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation Project. The joint commission covers a wide range of areas, including trade and industry, science and technology, biotechnology, space culture, civil aviation and education. Describing the talks as "positive and very wide-ranging," external affairs ministry spokesman Navtej Sarna said the two sides also discussed the proposed trilateral highway project between India, Thailand and Myanmar to link their countries. It was decided that if necessary, the three foreign ministers would meet to give the "necessary political push" to the project.
Source: IANS