India, Thailand aim to double trade by 2014

April 6th, 2011 - 2:54 am ICT by BNO News  

NEW DELHI (BNO NEWS) — India and Thailand on Tuesday agreed to double their trade by 2014 and intensify their cooperation in the areas of defense, education, tourism and culture.

“We see Thailand as playing a positive role in our efforts to catalyze development and improve connectivity of our Northeastern States with the ASEAN [Association of Southeast Asian Nations] region,” Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh told journalists after wide-ranging discussions in New Delhi with his Thai counterpart Abhisit Vejjajiva.

According to NetIndian News Network, the two sides also agreed to expedite the conclusion of negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement that would include goods, services and investment.

Bilateral trade grew six times in the ten years from 2000, and crossed $6.6 billion last year. Indian companies have invested more than $1.5 billion in Thailand, while Thai companies have invested about $800 million in India, according to Vishnu Prakash, official spokesperson of India’s Ministry of External Affairs.

Both countries also agreed to further strengthen ties in the fields of defense, counter-terrorism and security, and to initiate a senior official level dialogue between their defense ministries.

“We both expressed our desire to cooperate with each other to secure the vital sea-lanes of communications which pass through the Indian Ocean. We have identified other areas of cooperation such as space technology, disaster management and science and technology,” Singh said.

Related Stories

Tags: , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , ,

Posted in Business, Thailand |

Subscribe