NEW DELHI, Oct 10: India and Thailand on Thursday vowed to strengthen bilateral ties by enhancing trade and investment, while also boosting connectivity.
The two countries reviewed the entire gamut of their bilateral relations at the 8th joint commission meeting (JCM) here with the Indian side led by External Affairs Minister S Jaishankar and the Thai side headed by Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai.
The ministers had a restricted bilateral meeting followed by delegation-level talks.
During the meetings, both sides reviewed the progress made in all areas of the bilateral relationship, including political, defence and security, economic and commercial, connectivity, cultural, tourism and people-to-people ties, the ministry of external affairs (MEA) said in a statement.
The two sides noted that bilateral trade has grown by 20 percent in the last year and the investment is also growing, the statement said.
It was decided that the next meeting of the Joint Trade Committee to discuss ways and means to enhance trade and investment, the MEA said.
The ministers also discussed ways to enhance connectivity between the two countries, including in the areas of physical and digital connectivity.
They also identified areas for cooperation in the field of agriculture, science and technology, space, human resource development, capacity building, information technology, etc.
The ministries exchanged views on regional and multilateral issues of mutual interest, including cooperation in ASEAN, IORA, BIMSTEC, MGC, UN and other sub-regional and international organisations.
Both sides noted that India and Thailand are close maritime neighbours having historical and cultural linkages, the statement said.
In the contemporary context, India’s ‘Act East’ policy is complemented by Thailand’s ‘Look West’ policy, it said.
The JCM was preceded by the senior officials’ meeting held on 9 October.
The understandings and decisions of the JCM were concluded in the form of ‘agreed minutes of the joint commission’, which were signed by the two ministers.
Jaishankar and Pramudwinai also witnessed the signing of an MoU between the MEA’s Foreign Service Institute and the Thai foreign affairs ministry’s Devawongse Varopakarn Institute of Foreign Affairs. (PTI)
