India and Thailand to strengthen cooperation in trade & investment, defence & security

India and Thailand have agreed to further strengthen cooperation in areas like trade and investment, defence and security, and connectivity.

This was decided during a comprehensive review of bilateral relations at the 7th Foreign Office Consultations (FOC) between India and Thailand held in Bangkok on Monday (August 7, 2023).

According to the Ministry of External Affairs (MEA), the two sides undertook a comprehensive review of bilateral relations and agreed to further strengthen cooperation in a number of areas, including trade & investment, MSMEs, defence & security, connectivity, health, culture, and science & technology. They also welcomed regular meetings of their bilateral mechanisms.

Additionally, India and Thailand noted the growth in bilateral trade in recent years and agreed to look to exploit its full potential through regular G2G & B2B interactions and business collaborations.

Both sides also exchanged views on regional and global developments and agreed to coordinate closely in multilateral and regional fora, including in UN, BIMSTEC, IORA, MGC, ACD and India-ASEAN. They decided that the next FOC will be held in India at mutually convenient date.

During the sixth round of Foreign Office Consultations held in New Delhi in April 2022, India and Thailand had agreed to improve connectivity including early operationalisation of India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway and greater port linkages.

Both sides had also reviewed economic and commercial, cultural, science & technology, tourism, people-to-people ties, post COVID-19 economic recovery, vaccine cooperation and other issues of mutual interest.