Statement by PM to media during visit of Prime Minister of Thailand
April 05, 2011
Your Excellency Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva,
Ladies and Gentleman of the media
It is my privilege to welcome Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva on his first visit to India.
Prime Minister Vejjajiva has an extremely distinguished political and academic career and has led Thailand with great distinction through difficult times. I deeply value his personal commitment to a strong partnership between our two countries.
Thailand is a close friend and a valued regional partner for India. We share civilizational links with Thailand, and we are maritime neighbours.
The Prime Minister and I have had wide ranging discussions covering the entire gamut of our bilateral relations. We have had a meeting of minds on how to move our relations forward.
We have agreed to intensify our cooperation in the areas of trade and investment, education, tourism and culture. Our bilateral trade turnover has reached 6 billion US dollars. We have agreed to aim towards doubling of our trade by 2014. We have agreed to expedite the conclusion of negotiations on a bilateral Free Trade Agreement that would include goods, services and investment. I conveyed to the Prime Minister that we welcome more Thai investment into India.
We see Thailand as playing a positive role in our efforts to catalyse development and improve connectivity of our Northeastern States with the ASEAN region.
India and Thailand have active exchanges in the fields of defence, counter-terrorism and security. We have agreed to further strengthen them, and to initiate a senior official level dialogue between our Defence 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.
We have agreed that the Ministerial level Joint Commission will meet this year to follow up on the range of bilateral initiatives.
Developing close relations with Thailand is an important component of our ‘Look East’ Policy. We work together in a number of regional mechanisms such as BIMSTEC, the ASEAN Regional Forum, the East Asia Summit and the Mekong Ganga Cooperation initiative. The Prime Minister and I are of the unanimous view that a strong India-Thailand partnership is a factor of peace and stability in the Asia-Pacific region.
Prime Minister Vejjajiva’s visit has provided the political impetus and direction for a closer and more broad-based partnership between our countries. This is an important visit, and will enhance the national interests of both our countries.
I thank you.
New Delhi
April 5, 2011
Source: http://meaindia.nic.in/mystart.php?id=530117515
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