Thailand backs India's bid for U.N. seat

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 10. The visiting Foreign Minister of Thailand, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, today discussed reforms in the United Nations with his Indian counterpart, Mr. Jaswant Singh, as part of the attempt by developing countries to make the multilateral body more relevant and responsive in the contemporary context. Thailand is also understood to have agreed in principle with India's attempt to obtain a seat in the UN Security Council.

Dr. Surin impressed on the need to work out a mechanism for monitoring and encouraging bilateral interaction on a long-term basis. He felt there was more scope for cooperation as India shared historic ties with countries in the Mekong basin. The two Ministers also discussed the signing of an extradition treaty, with Dr. Surin assuring India that the Thai Cabinet will take up the issue in the near future.

Referring to the agreements for promotion and protection of investments and on utilising atomic energy for peaceful purposes which were signed today with Mr. Jaswant Singh, the Thai Minister felt they reflected the willingness by both countries to address ``outstanding obstacles''.

Later, speaking at his only public engagement of the day, Dr. Surin felt Governments of both countries should act as catalysts to ``jump start'' bilateral economic relations which have hit a plateau.

Now that the economic crisis in South-East Asian countries had abated, the time was opportune to impart a fresh momentum to bilateral economic activities, he told industrialists belonging to the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here.

Though there was significant room for expansion of bilateral trade, the Foreign Minister said there were ``some challenges'' in the way of ``fullest cooperation''.

Chief among them was the ponderous system of approving foreign investment proposals, Dr. Surin said. ``The efforts of the private sector will be blunted without the active and serious participation of the Indian Government. (It) should keep up its excellent work and commitment in improving the investment environment for foreigners, such as through the future development of a one-stop-shop service,'' he observed.

The Minister dwelt on five sectors which had significant potential for growth and, therefore, ``deserve our fullest attention and interest''. These were the computer industry, the IT and e-commerce industry, agro, construction and tourism. In each of these, the two nations shared common ground and could complement each other's strengths.

In the computer and computer software industry, for instance, India had highly skilled personnel in software development while Thailand excelled in hardware production.

``I envision that our close collaboration could engender our two nations to become digital partners who can provide bundles of high quality computers and software for the global marketplace. To take this idea further, India could very well be the country of choice for customised software development while Thailand could be the one for computer hardware in the future,'' he expounded. Dr. Surin also saw similar synergies in the other four areas.

MoU on agriculture to be signed soon

By Our Special Correspondent

NEW DELHI, JULY 10. A Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for cooperation between India and Thailand in the field of agriculture is likely to be signed shortly.

The Union Cabinet has already accorded its approval for the MoU, while Dr. Pitsuwan, has expressed his keenness on signing of the MoU. Incidentally, Mr. Pitsuwan has himself been a student of an Indian Agriculture University.

During a meeting with Mr. Pitsuwan, the Union Agriculture Minister, Mr. Nitish Kumar, expressed his willingness to extend cooperation and all assistance to Thailand in the field of agriculture for mutual benefit.

India and Thailand are members of Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thai Economic Cooperation (BIMST-EC) and Indian Ocean Rim Association-Regional Cooperation (IOR-ARC) which has 19 members.

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