India-Thailand to jointly work on infrastructure

New Delhi, May 1: India and Thailand have great potential to increase mutual trade and business, particularly in the food processing and infrastructure sectors.

This was stated by Board of Trade of Thailand Chairman Pramon Sutivong at an interactive session organised by the Confederation of Indian Industry (CII) here today.

A high level trade delegation from Thailand, led by Mr Sutivong, who is also the Chairman of Toyata Thailand, is on a seven-day visit to India.They would also be visiting the neighbouring areas of Gurgaon and Noida and Chennai and Mumbai later.

Speaking at the session, Mr Sutivong stated that one of the main missions of this delegation was to explore the possibilities of collaborations in the food processing sector with India where there was a tremendous potential.

He also stated that Thailand was keen to participate in the construction business in India since there was an increased focus on developing the infrastructure sector here.

Earlier, welcoming the delegation, CII Ex-president and Hero Corporate Services Ltd MD Sunil Kant Munjal said, after the Free Trade Agreement with Thailand, bilateral trade between the two countries had gone up to 1.7 billion dollars, but there was scope for expanding this much further.

Mr Munjal stated that there was a greater focus on the agricultural sector in India of late, which was reflected in the growth figures that showed agriculture had grown from 0.7 per cent in 2004-05 to 2.3 per cent in 2005-06.

Speaking about the food processing industry, he said India was the second largest producer of vegetables in the world, with an annual production of 150 million tones of fruits and vegetables.

On the other hand, food processing in the country was only 2 per cent which showed a great potential for growth.

Inviting the Thai delegates to join the growth sector in India, Mr Munjal stated that gems and jewellery, automotive components, machine tools, pharma, IT and tourism were sectors where the two countries could learn and benefit each other.

UNI