Thai PM attends 14th ASEAN-India Summit in Vientiane

BANGKOK, September 8 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has joined other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in attending the 14th ASEAN-India Summit in Vientiane, held as part of the 28th-29th ASEAN Summits in the Lao capital during September 6-8. On the last day of the 28th-29th ASEAN Summits and related forum, the Thai prime minister, together with other ASEAN leaders, met Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi for the 14th ASEAN-India Summit on Thursday morning, during which the Thai leader proposed enhancing strategic partnership, economic cooperation and connectivity between ASEAN and India. The Thai prime minister said ASEAN-India should expedite the construction of a strategic road, linking India with Myanmar and Thailand (IMT) as a trilateral highway to be then expanded to the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS). Besides, relevant rules and regulations should be revised or modified to facilitate trade and logistics between ASEAN and India through the IMT highway for their maximum benefits. The Thai prime minister also proposed a review in the ASEAN-India Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to increase trade facilitations and market access, which would also boost bilateral trade between New Delhi and Bangkok to 200 billion US dollars by 2020 as targeted. The Thai prime minister proposed as well that ASEAN and India expand cooperation in science, information communication technology (ICT) and innovations, covering cyber security, digital economy, e-commerce, human resource and research development. On the occasion, the Thai prime minister offered that Thailand will host an ASEAN-India trade fair next year to celebrate the 25th anniversary of ASEAN-India relations, while also inviting India to expand investment in the Thai economy. (TNA)