17 hours Ago
Thailand and India have signed a strategic partnership, vowing to cooperate on defence and accelerate a key infrastructure project that’s set to link the world’s most-populous nation with neighbouring Southeast Asia. The two countries agreed to play vital roles in promoting connectivity between South Asia and Southeast Asia, Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra told reporters after a meeting with her counterpart Narendra Modi at Government House on Thursday. The two nations will aim to speed up the 1,300-kilometre highway project that will begin from northeastern India and traverse through Myanmar before reaching northern Thailand.
Thailand also pitched its flagship landbridge project, which is touted to link the Pacific and Indian oceans, as a new logistics route, Ms Paetongtarn said. Her administration also proposed talks to amend India’s free trade agreements with Thailand and Asean — the Association of Southeast Asian Nations — to promote more trade and bilateral investments, she added. Mr Modi’s trip to Bangkok marks the first official visit by an Indian leader in 12 years to Thailand.
He will also attend a summit of regional leaders on Friday. The Bimstec summit — short for the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation — and related meetings are being held in Bangkok this week. Apart from Mr Modi, leaders from Myanmar, Nepal, Bhutan, Bangladesh and Sri Lanka will be attending the summit.
The bloc is expected to adopt a joint summit declaration and an agreement called Bimstec Bangkok Vision 2030, which will outline long-term goals for economic cooperation and regional security. An agreement on maritime transport cooperation is also set to be inked. Bimstec member states have also been working on a free trade deal, which has not yet been concluded.
Ms Paetongtarn is set to meet with Bangladesh’s interim leader Muhammad Yunus and Sri Lankan Prime Minister Harini Amarasuriya on Friday, according to the government. She will also meet with Myanmar’s Gen Min Aung Hlaing, a rare trip for the junta leader to another Southeast Asian country since the military took power in the 2021 coup. The two will likely discuss the impact of a devastating earthquake that struck Myanmar last week and humanitarian assistance Thailand could provide, Foreign Ministry spokesman Nikorndej Balankura said.
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