By IANS
New Delhi : India and Thailand Tuesday signed two agreements in energy and culture and stepped up negotiations to conclude a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) by 2010 that is expected to multiply trade and investment between the two nations.
A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on enhanced cooperation in renewable energy was signed by Vilas Muttemwar, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, and Thai Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand.
Another deal on enhancing cultural cooperation was signed by Badal Das, secretary in the ministry of culture, and Cholchineepan Chiranond, deputy permanent secretary in the Thai ministry of culture. The MoU was signed in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Thai counterpart Surayud Chulanont after the two leaders held formal talks on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues.
Earlier, while speaking to top business leaders of India, Gen. Surayud, a former army chief, sought to allay apprehensions of investors after a military-led government took over power in a coup in Thailand last September.
He stressed that the Thai economy was growing at a rate of over four percent and that full democracy would be restored after elections, to be held before the year-end.
"Our two countries are on track to conclude an FTA in near future, with a view to establishing the FTA covering trade in goods by 2010," he said in his keynote address at a business summit organised here by three apex business bodies of India.
Surayud arrived here Monday evening on a three-day visit that also takes him to Kolkata as well as historical places like Varanasi and Sarnath.
Painting a buoyant picture of steadily burgeoning business ties, the Thai leader announced the launching of a weeklong India-Thailand FTA roadshow from June 28 to July 4.
Thailand's Deputy Foreign Minister Sawanit Kongsiri will lead a prominent group of investors on the roadshow to important Indian cities to explore business opportunities that will come into play after the FTA comes into effect, Surayud said.
Commerce Minister Kamal Nath, who was present at the business meeting, stressed the need to diversify trade between the two countries and called for an FTA that covers not just goods, but also services and investments.
Calling India "Thailand's new major market and a key engine of the rising Asian economy," Surayud underlined the importance of the proposed FTA and said that since the elimination of tariffs on 82 items under the early harvest scheme of limited FTA in 2004, bilateral trade had jumped to $3.4 billion last year.
The agreed target of $4 billion by 2007 is likely to be achieved, he said.
The Thai leader sought more Indian investment in IT and pharmaceuticals – two areas in which India has proven expertise.