Indian PM visits Thailand May 30-31

BANGKOK, May 30 (TNA) - Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh is paying a two-day official visit to Thailand, from May 30-31, at the bilateral level for the first time as invited by his Thai counterpart Yingluck Shinawatra, aimed to further boost bilateral relations and strategic partnership for mutual interest between New Delhi and Bangkok. Accompanied by his entourage, Singh was officially welcomed at Bangkok's Government House on Thursday and later had bilateral talks with his Thai counterpart to discuss the implementation of their joint declaration of intent in January last year for both countries to develop the countries' full-scale strategic partnership based on democracy, human rights, mutual interest and sustainable development. During their meeting, the Indian and Thai Prime Ministers also explored new areas of bilateral cooperation between New Delhi and Bangkok, especially that on economic affairs, trade and investment. The Thai Prime Minister is scheduled to also host a dinner reception for her Indian counterpart and his delegation on Thursday evening. Earlier, the Indian Prime Minister visited Thailand to attended the 1st Summit of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) in 2004 and the 15th ASEAN Summit in 2009; while Premier Yingluck visited India twice last year: In January, when she participated in the celebration of the Republic Day of India and in December, when she attended the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit. India is Thailand's most important trading partner in South Asia and a big and potential market, with the value of mutual trade standing at 8.67 billion US dollars last year, a 5.77 per cent year-on-year increase, showing the development of close relations between both countries and India’s intention to strengthen cooperation with Thailand and other member countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), covering the development of food and energy security for sustainable development. The Indian and Thai Premiers are also scheduled to then witness the signing of nine agreements between New Delhi and Bangkok. (TNA)