PM's Thailand visit to elevate ties into 'strategic partnership'

BANGKOK: Prime Minister Manmohan Singh arrives here tomorrow on a day's visit to reinforce India's "Look East" policy, recognising Thailand as a key gateway to the ASEAN region and seeking to elevate bilateral ties into a "strategic partnership".

Ahead of Singh's visit, the Thai Foreign Ministry said the bilateral meeting "reflects the desire of the two sides to elevate Thai-Indian relations to a strategic partnership, as announced in January last year."

Frequent exchanges of high-level bilateral visits reflect the closer relations between the two nations as well as the 'Look West' policy of Thailand and 'Look East' policy of India respectively, it said in a statement.

During the visit, a slew of MoUs covering space, extradition, IT, education, financial intelligence units to check money laundering are expected to be inked.

Besides, issues like geo-politics, the trilateral highway project involving India, Thailand and Myanmar, defence, science and technology, education and culture, will be discussed by Singh with his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra.

Singh's visit here will be first time by an Indian premier after the 2004 visit by the then Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee.

Commenting on Singh's trip, Indian Ambassador to Thailand Anil Wadhwa said, "Thailand is keenly looking forward to this visit."

"The trilateral highway which will connect India's northeast region with Thailand via Myanmar by 2016 is expected to be a game changer as far as flow of goods, investment and services is concerned. The increased people to people contacts are expected to provide a much needed boost to demand and productivity, thereby improving the lives of millions of people in all three countries," Wadhwa said today.