Thai Princess to attend 60th anniv of Indo-Thai diplomatic ties

New Delhi, Aug 8 (UNI) Thailand Princess Mahachakri Sirindhorn and External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee will hold talks here tomorrow on strengthening bilateral relations and will discuss regional and international situation.

Princess Sirindhorn who arrives here this evening to attend the Thai cultural celebrations marking sixty years of diplomatic relations, will preside over a preview of the Ramakien, the traditional Thai version of Ramayana, to be performed by Thai artistes here tomorrow as part of the anniversary celebrations.

In the morning tomorrow, the Thai Princess will inaugurate an exhibition of photographs taken by her during her several visits to India. She will also play a traditional Thai musical instrument at the function.

Earlier during the day, she will lay the foundation stone of a new building for her country's embassy in India.

India and Thailand have already reaffirmed commitment to strengthen relations in diverse areas and work towards providing a solid foundation for even stronger partnership for the future.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in a message last week reaffirmed India's commitment to work with Thailand to enhance engagement with the ASEAN as well as in regional fora like the East Asia Summit (EAS), BIMSTEC and the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation.

Thailand's Prime Minister Gen Surayud Chulanont said both countries were witnessing close cooperation in diverse fields and had become ''true partners.'' In separate messages on the occasion of celebration of the 60th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations, the two leaders said relations between the two countries were deeply rooted in ancient civilisational links.

External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and his Thai counterpart Nitya Pibulsonggram also said relations between the two countries had moved beyond the traditional culture and civilisational links to areas like Defence, security, trade, science and technology and people-to-people interaction.

Dr Singh said, ''Relations between India and Thailand are deeply rooted in our ancient civilisational links. Over the last 60 years, both sides have worked to give this ancient relationship and contemporary relevance.'' He expressed satisfaction that in the recent years Indo-Thai relations had undergone considerable expansion consolidation.

The External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said Thailand's 'Look West Policy' complemented India's 'Look East' approach while relations between the two countries had moved beyond the traditional areas of culture and commercial interaction.

UNI