Bangkok: The visit of Yingluck Shinawatra,
Thailand`s first woman Prime Minister, to India next week will
strengthen the rapidly increasing economic and political ties
between the two maritime neighbours.
Yingluck, 44, the youngest sister of former premier
Thaksin Shinawatra, is the chief guest at India`s Republic Day
Parade at Rajpath this year.
She will arrive in India on Tuesday.
The photogenic premier, who is known for her chic
fashion sense, is reportedly the youngest chief guest at the
Parade in the last three decades.
The chief guest at the 2010 and 2011 parades were
South Korean president and the Indonesian president.
The young premier, known for her penchant for off the
rack designer wear, will be leading a high-profile 100 member
delegation during her three-day visit to India including the
foreign minister and defence minister and a host of
businessmen.
"New Delhi looks forward to this visit as an important
milestone in the relationship between India and Thailand, and
is confident that the visit will give a huge boost to the
already strong ties between the two countries and lead to
economic prosperity and greater connectivity in India and
Thailand which are maritime neighbours," Anil Wadhwa,
India`s ambassador to Thailand, said.
Yingluck, during her short visit to India, plans to
visit the Taj Mahal in Agra.
Officials from India and Thailand will also hold talks
covering several fields including trade, science and
technology, defence and consular matters.
"Thailand is a good interlocutor in the Asean, and
we see potential," Wadhwa said.
"Extradition is one of the areas which will be
taken up with the Thai side," Wadhwa said adding that India
and Thailand had an "extradition arrangement" in place since
1982.
The last extradition treaty was signed by Thailand
decades ago in 1902.
The envoy said negotiations were over regarding
"exchange of sentenced prisoners" and added that a mutual
legal assistance treaty in commercial matters, a complement to
extradition treaty, would be entered into by the two sides.
"We have a joint working group on security, exchanging
information on all security issues like terrorism,
counter-terrorism and other intelligence issues which we can
help each other with," the envoy added.
India and Thailand signed the Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) in 2003, which became effective in 2005.
The focus of talks between Yingluck and the Indian
leaders will focus on economy and investment and a
declaration to finish the Comprehensive Economic Cooperation
Treaty (CECA) by 2012 at the prime ministerial level.
"Talks have picked up momentum," Wadhwa said adding
that several MoUs are expected to be inked during Yingluck`s
visit in the fields of trade, culture, defence, science and
technology and consular matters.
India wants to expand defence cooperation with Thailand,
Wadhwa said stressing that it was important to hold talks on
coast guard cooperation, with sea piracy cases frequently
reported.
The envoy said that Thai businessmen were also eager
to take part in the booming Indian economy citing the example
of CP Group which was interested in shrimp farming, poultry
and setting up "quick chicken" kiosks along the highways.
India is also looking at joint projects in connectivity
like the trilateral highway project involving Myanmar.
Trade is rapidly picking up between the two countries
with official figures noting that bilateral trade had
multiplied six times since 2000, touching USD 7.46 billion in
November 2011.
According to the January-November 2011 figures, Indian
exports to Thailand were USD 4.72 billion, while imports were
USD 2.74 billion dollars with the trade balance at USD 1.98
billion.
The growth rate has shot up rapidly over the years
from 2.66 per cent in 2002 to 23.38 per cent by 2011.
Indian companies too have expressed keen interest to
enter Thailand. There are 45 Indian companies operating here.
India and Thailand do not compete directly with each
other - the Thai jasmine rice is different than India`s
Basmati, India`s strength is in software while Thailand is
known for its hardware etc.
A total of 250,000 Indians live in Thailand out of
which ethnic Indians, mostly Sikhs and Sindhis, number 90,000
while the rest are expatriate Indians.
The ICCR is planning to set up a "India Centre" with a
Bangkok University, Wadhwa added.
A local daily Phuket Express in a write up about
Yingluck said the Thai premier was known to be terrified of
geckos.
A mother of a nine-year-old boy, Yingluck is married
to Anusorn Amornchat, a business executive.
PTI
