Thailand to build India ties

India has begun engaging Thailand in recent years

By Larry Jagan in Bangkok

Thailand's Prime Minster Thaksin Shinawatra has begun an official four-day trip to India.

He will be first visiting Bangalore - India's equivalent of Silicon Valley - before going onto Delhi for talks with the country's political leaders.

The talks there will concentrate on strengthening economic ties and the construction of a regional highway, linking Thailand and India through Burma.

The first Thai PM to visit in 12 years

"Trade, investment and technological co-operation are the primarily concerns on this trip," said a government official.

The Thai prime minister wants to increase trade and investment in the short-term, but is also keen to explore the possibility of developing a free-trade pact with India in the longer-term.

Trade and IT

The government's economic advisors have been urging Mr Thaksin to compliment the free-trade agreement that will be negotiated with China as part of a regional arrangement with Beijing.

Thailand should look west to India to further expand trade, investment and export markets

Supachai Panitchpakdi

Thailand's former deputy prime minister, and the next director-general of the World Trade Organisation Supachai Panitchpakdi also believes Thailand has much to gain from a free-trade arrangement with India.

"Instead of focusing on China," he said, "Thailand should look west to India to further expand trade, investment and export markets."

Mr Thaksin is also very keen to develop Thailand as a knowledge-based economy. While in India, the two countries will discuss a possible agreement in the information technology sector, according to Thai government officials.

Road links

But there are other areas in which the Thai Government will be looking to co-operate.

"The two countries will be discussing co-operation in the rice trade, developing counter-trade and co-operation in infrastructure projects," said Thai Government spokesman Yongyuth Tiyapairatha.

The Thai PM will visit Infosys in Bangalore

The current Thai Government has been keen to develop an East-West highway which would connect Thailand to Vietnam's deep sea ports in the East and India through Burma to the West.

Construction of a new road link from India to Rangoon has already been started, largely financed by India.

"We want to build a road from the Thai border town of Mae Sai to Burma's deep-sea port on the coast near Mergui and up to Rangoon," said Thai Foreign Minister Surakiat Sathirathai recently.

Thai officials say the country's foreign minister, who is travelling with the prime minister, hopes to get the necessary political commitment from Delhi during this trip.

Asean

In recent years, Thailand has been anxious to improve its political and economic contact with India.

Mr Thaksin is the first Thai prime minister to visit India in 12 years, although there has been substantial contact at ministerial levels.

Thailand has been promoting regional co-operation with South Asia through BIMST-EC, which includes Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Myanmar with India and Thailand in a economic co-operation group.

On the political front, the new government has been more assertive in strengthening relations between the regional grouping, Asean, and India.

Thailand's support for Singapore's proposal to hold a Asean + 1 summit (with India) was instrumental in the organisation's decision at the recent Asean summit in Brunei to go ahead with such a meeting.

There is no doubt that the fear of further economic problems in South East Asia, and the recognition that the countries of the region can no longer rely on the US economy to provide the engine of economic recovery, has prompted a new attitude of engagement with South Asia - and India in particular.