13th Joint Trade Committee meeting of India and Thailand held in New Delhi

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 The 13th Meeting of India Thailand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) was held today in New Delhi. 

Thailand is India’s important trading partner in ASEAN with total trade of USD 16.89 Billion in 2022-23. Thailand accounts for 13.6% of India’s total trade with ASEAN. Thailand is an important destination for India’s gems and jewellery, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components and agricultural products especially marine products.

Issues Discussed:

  1. Reviewing the status of bilateral trade and each partner’s  modest share in  other’s global imports, the chairs emphasised the need for identifying new potential products and priority sectors for expanding the bilateral trade. 
  2. Both sides also discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve the same through regular and sustained bilateral discussions. 
  3. India raised the restriction faced in its export of marine, poultry and meat products. 
  4. Both sides identified a range of potential  commodities and sectors for strengthened partnership such as value added marine products, smartphones, Electric vehicles, food processing and  pharmaceuticals.  
  5. The countries also agreed that there is huge scope in collaboration in the Service Sector and agreed to explore establishing mutual recognition/cooperation  arrangements in Nursing, Accounting, Audio Visual and Medical Tourism.
  6. The meeting also reviewed the progress of the ongoing efforts on  connecting Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of India with  Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency.

India Thailand Relations:

India and Thailand share a maritime boundary in the Andaman Sea. India’s bilateral relations with Thailand are rooted in history, age-old social and cultural interactions and extensive people to people contacts. Diplomatic relations between the two countries were established in 1947. In 2022, India and Thailand celebrated the 75th anniversary of establishment of diplomatic relations with a series of commemorative events and activities.

High level visits and meetings have taken palce on a regular basis between both the sides.

 Joint Commission Meeting (JCM): The 9th round of JCM was held in Bangkok, Thailand on 16-17 August 2022. External Affairs Minister of India (EAM) and Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand (DPM/FM) Mr. Don Pramudwinai co-chaired the JCM on 17 August.
Foreign Office Consultations (FOC): The 6th round of Foreign Office Consultations between India and Thailand, co-chaired by Secretary (East), Shri Saurabh Kumar and Thai Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, were held on 21 April 2022 in New Delhi.
 Joint Task Force (JTF) on Maritime Cooperation: 4th Meeting of Joint Task Force (JTF) on Maritime Cooperation between India and Thailand was held on 17 February 2021 in virtual mode. 

Defence Cooperation:
 The MoU on Defence Cooperation between India and Thailand was signed on 25 January 2012. Bilateral exercises are held annually between the armed forces of both countries. The ongoing defence cooperation initiatives comprise of bi-annual joint maritime patrolling by the navies of both countries, annual staff talks, subject matter expert exchange visits and training of officers at each other’s institutions, trilateral/multilateral military exercises etc. The 8th edition of Annual Defence Dialogue is planned in Thailand in March/April 2023.

Trade:

Trade between two countries increased manifold in recent years. In 2022, it reached a record high of US$ 17.7 billion.
Connectivity: 

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, Thailand was directly connected with 17 Indian cities with approximately 300 weekly flights with seasonal variation. Around 1.9 million Indian tourists visited Thailand in 2019. The number of Thai tourists to India was close to 160,000 (mainly to Buddhist pilgrimage sites).

An Indian Cultural Centre was opened in Bangkok in September 2009 [it has since been renamed as the Swami Vivekananda Cultural Centre]. The India-Thailand Cultural Exchange Programme (CEP) for the years 2022-2027 was signeed.

Educational Cooperation:
MoU on Cooperation in the field of Education was signed in 2005. India offers 72 scholarships annually under various schemes (ITEC – 40, ICCR scholarships – 30 and Hindi scholarships – 2) to Thailand. India has also offered 1,000 Ph.D. fellowships at the IITs to ASEAN countries, including 100 slots to Thailand. Currently, there are 6 Indian Studies Centres in Thailand. In addition to these India Studies Centres, 11 India Corners have been set up in various Thai Universities/institutions.

 Indian Diaspora in Thailand

34.  The total number of people of Indian origin in Thailand is estimated to be around 250,000 and over 25,000 NRIs, majority of whom are concentrated in Bangkok. The community comprises mainly of Punjabi Hindus, Namdhari and other Sikh sects, Gorakhpuris, Malayalis, Tamils, Gujaratis, Marwaris, and Sindhis; however, other linguistic and regional groups are also well represented.

  1. PIB, 
  2. Embassy of India, Bangkok, Thailand
  3. India - Thailand Relations
  4. Brief on India - Thailand Relations

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