INDO-THAI FTA TO BOOST BILATERAL TRADE,
INVESTMENT
JAITLEY
ADDRESSES INTERACTIVE MEETING WITH DEPUTY PM OF THAILAND
The Free Trade Agreement
(FTA) being presently negotiated between India and Thailand, which
is at the final stage of drafting, will give a big boost to further
growth in bilateral trade, investment and services. It would also
facilitate duty-free access to each other's markets and result
in enhanced trade and investment opportunities. This was stated
by Shri Arun Jaitley, Union Minister of commerce and Industry
at an interactive meeting with Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand
Dr. Korn Dabbransi, and his delegation, organised by the Federation
of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FICCI), here today.
Stressing that the FTA would be a useful instrument for achieving
bilateral trade growth, Shri Jaitley indicated that the joint
feasibility study had concluded that an FTA would result in significant
trade creation by substantially increasing the level of two-way
trade between the two countries. "We view the conclusion of the
Framework Agreement on India-Thai FTA as a very significant step
in our engagement with Thailand and the ASEAN region as a whole",
Shri Jaitley said.
At the FICCI interaction as well as a meeting later in the day
when the Dr. Dabbransi called on Shri Jaitley, both the leaders
recalled the long-standing traditional and historical ties between
the two countries which had been reinforced by increasing economic
and commercial links. Bilateral trade is steadily growing. However,
although the two-way trade has been over US $ 1 billion during
the last three consecutive years, the volume of trade continues
to be relatively small and a lot more would have to be done to
tap the existing potential, they said. Shri Jaitley stressed that
the target of US $ 2 billion for two-way trade between India and
Thailand was attainable, but greater efforts would be needed to
increase business awareness, to reduce and eliminate trade barriers
and to engage the business community on both sides more intensively
in the trade and economic spheres.
Dr. Dabbransi also underlined that expansion of economic and commercial
contacts would impart the necessary impetus and dynamism to bilateral
relationship and discussions that business leaders on both sides
would have in the coming days would play an important role in
this regard.
As regards investment, Indian investment in Thailand from 1991
to 2002 has reached US $ 984.39 million. At present, there are
26 joint ventures projects in operation producing chemicals, steel
wires and rods, rayon fibre, drugs and pharmaceuticals, etc. Thai
investment in India (approvals) from 1991 to 2002 has reached
US $ 782.7 million mainly in telecom, hospitality and tourism
sectors. The potential areas for Indian investments in Thailand
are IT services and software, pharmaceuticals, herbal-based medicines,
dairy development, etc. IT is a promising area where India and
Thailand could join hands, as Thailand has strength in hardware
and India has an edge in software.
The Deputy Prime Minister of Thailand is visiting India from 5th
to 10th August, at the invitation of the Commerce & Industry
Minister and is leading a strong delegation which includes the
Deputy Minister of Transport, Vice Minister of the Office of the
Thai Prime Minister and officials of Thai Ministries of Foreign
Affairs, Commerce and Transport, besides the Thai agencies for
Investment, Tourism, Civil Aviation and a large contingent of
60 businessmen from the private sector covering food, Thai restaurant
and service sector, automotives, furniture, pharmaceuticals, construction,
IT, tourism, film industry and the fisheries sectors.
