Indian and Thai governments mark 60 years of ties

Bangkok, Aug 3 (UNI) The governments of India and Thailand organised a joint celebration here this evening marking the 60th anniversary of the establishment of bilateral diplomatic ties which preceded India's independence.

Indian Ambassador to Thailand Latha Reddy and Acting Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs Sawanit Kongsiri presided over the event at the Thai Foreign Affairs Ministry.

Messages of mutual congratulations from Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and their Thai counterparts were displayed at the venue.

Although, formal diplomatic ties between Bangkok and New Delhi were established on August 1, 1947 when India was still under British rule, there were few high level exchanges till the then Vice-President V V Giri's visit to Bangkok in 1972.

Late Rajiv Gandhi was the first Indian prime minister to visit Thailand in 1986 followed by P V Narashimha Rao in 1993, Mr A B Vajpayee in 2003 and Dr Manmohan Singh in 2004.

Although key members of the Thai royal family had visited India earlier, then prime minister Chatichai Choonhavan was the first head of Thai government to visit India in 1989. Former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra visited India thrice and present Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont was in India in June this year.

Global and regional political alignments till the early 1990s stood in the way of full development of bilateral relations.

India's 'Look East' policy initiated in the mid-1990s has been complemented by Thailand's 'Look West' policy, bringing the two closer.

New Delhi and Bangkok are deepening political, economic, security and cultural ties. Thailand is the first country with which India has concluded a preliminary agreement on establishing a bilateral Free Trade Area (FTA) and negotiations are in an advanced stage.

India and Thailand along with Myanmar are building the Trilateral Highway that will set up a direct road link between India and Thailand.

Bilateral security cooperation has been focused on securing their shared maritime space with an agreement on joint coordinated patrols by the Indian and Thai navies in the Bay of Bengal at the mouth of the Malacca Straits.

The Thai navy also takes part in the regional bi-annual MILAN exercises off the Andaman and Nicobar Islands.

UNI