Thailand looks to India to balance China's economic weight
Monday, 25 June 2007
BANGKOK, June 24 (AFP): Thailand's army-installed prime minister heads to India Monday in a bid to speed up a free trade deal, which Bangkok hopes will help counterbalance China's growing weight as a trading partner.
Premier Surayud Chulanont aims to revive talks started before last year's coup when he meets with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during a three-day trip.
"The visit will express Thailand's political commitment ... that we want to pursue free-trade talks with India," foreign ministry spokesman Piriya Khempon told the news agency.
"The FTA so far has progressed slowly, and we want this visit to accelerate the negotiations so they can be finalised."
Pushing ahead with free trade talks is an unlikely cause for Surayud's government, which was installed by the military after the previous prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled in a coup in September.
Thaksin, a self-made billionaire, was a champion of free trade but rankled some of Thailand's royalist elite with his gung-ho brand of capitalism.
Anti-globalisation protesters who opposed his rush to seal free trade agreements (FTAs) were among the activists who helped bring down Thaksin's government with street demonstrations in Bangkok last year.
But with Thailand's economy slowing due to political instability, Surayud has been looking for ways to keep crucial exports growing.
He has already signed a free trade deal with Japan-a pact that Thaksin had negotiated-and the commerce ministry says it wants to close the deal with India in July.
"Given the size of its economy and huge population, India is another promising market in Asia where we are trying to develop a closer economic partnership," said Karun Kittisataporn, permanent secretary of the commerce ministry.
If a deal were signed next month, bilateral trade could reach four billion dollars this year, according to the ministry, which projects growth of 30 per cent within a year of signing an agreement.
India is currently Thailand's largest trade partner in South Asia, with trade worth 3.4 billion dollars last year, when Thailand enjoyed a surplus of 200 million dollars on shipments worth 1.8 billion dollars to India.
Although far lower than bilateral trade with China, which totalled 25.1 billion dollars last year, Thailand believes India could counterbalance China's growing economic might.
For India, Thailand represents a gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia.
Apart from the FTA, Thailand also hopes to convince India to further liberalise aviation rules with so-called open-sky policies.
Premier Surayud Chulanont aims to revive talks started before last year's coup when he meets with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh during a three-day trip.
"The visit will express Thailand's political commitment ... that we want to pursue free-trade talks with India," foreign ministry spokesman Piriya Khempon told the news agency.
"The FTA so far has progressed slowly, and we want this visit to accelerate the negotiations so they can be finalised."
Pushing ahead with free trade talks is an unlikely cause for Surayud's government, which was installed by the military after the previous prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra was toppled in a coup in September.
Thaksin, a self-made billionaire, was a champion of free trade but rankled some of Thailand's royalist elite with his gung-ho brand of capitalism.
Anti-globalisation protesters who opposed his rush to seal free trade agreements (FTAs) were among the activists who helped bring down Thaksin's government with street demonstrations in Bangkok last year.
But with Thailand's economy slowing due to political instability, Surayud has been looking for ways to keep crucial exports growing.
He has already signed a free trade deal with Japan-a pact that Thaksin had negotiated-and the commerce ministry says it wants to close the deal with India in July.
"Given the size of its economy and huge population, India is another promising market in Asia where we are trying to develop a closer economic partnership," said Karun Kittisataporn, permanent secretary of the commerce ministry.
If a deal were signed next month, bilateral trade could reach four billion dollars this year, according to the ministry, which projects growth of 30 per cent within a year of signing an agreement.
India is currently Thailand's largest trade partner in South Asia, with trade worth 3.4 billion dollars last year, when Thailand enjoyed a surplus of 200 million dollars on shipments worth 1.8 billion dollars to India.
Although far lower than bilateral trade with China, which totalled 25.1 billion dollars last year, Thailand believes India could counterbalance China's growing economic might.
For India, Thailand represents a gateway to the rest of Southeast Asia.
Apart from the FTA, Thailand also hopes to convince India to further liberalise aviation rules with so-called open-sky policies.