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Indo-Thai Cooperation for the North-East
New Delhi, January 24, 2008
Piyabutr Cholvijarn, Deputy Minister of Industry of
Thailand, led a Thai delegation comprising both the Thai
public and private sectors to visit three North Eastern States
of India (Sikkim, Arunachal Pradesh and Assam) from January
9-12, 2008 to follow up the earlier visit to Tripura, Assam
and Meghalaya of H.E. Krirk-Krai Jirapaet, Thai Minister of
Commerce, and the North-East India Trade & Investment
Opportunities Week held in Bangkok in October, 2007 with a
view to further promoting and strengthening Thai investment in
the North East and exploring its trade potentials. H.E
Piyabutr Cholvijaran’s visit was in response to the invitation
from Mani Shankar Aiyar, Minister for the Development of the
North-Eastern Region of India.
The Thai delegation consisted of representatives from the
Thailand Board of Investment, the Royal Thai Embassy in New
Delhi, the Thai Office of Commercial Affairs in New Delhi and
Thai companies in the food, construction, banking and steel
industry.
The Indian delegation was headed by Ms V.S.Rao, Secretary,
Ministry for the Development of the North Eastern Region. The
delegation included officials of the Ministry of DoNER and
Secretary (Industry) of the States of Arunachal pradesh, Assam
and Sikkim. Meetings at Guwahati (Assam) and Gangtok (Sikkim)
were chaired by the respective Chief Ministers of the States,
Tarun Gogoi and Pawan K. Chamling. The meeting at Itanagar was
chaired by Lombo Tayeng, Minister for Public Health
Engineering & Water Supply, Government of Arunachal Pradesh.
The business seminars conducted in Guwahati, Itanagar and
Gangtok were very successful with more than 100 people
participating in each seminar and many sub-group discussions
on industries of common interest to the two parties. Both
sides recognized that food processing, agriculture, tourism
and infrastructure improvement in roads, hydro-electricity,
dams, water control in rivers, etc. are areas with the greater
potential to be further pursued. The meetings concluded that
there will be further cooperation through exchange of
information and further visits of organized trade, investment
and tourism delegations to advise and assist each other to
further promote Thailand-India trade and investment.
As of now, 42 proposals for Thai-North East Trade Cooperation
in investment and trade are being actively pursued under the
overall aegis and coordination of the Indian Chamber of
Commerce, Kolkata.
The following points were highlighted for future course of
action:
- To exchange tour operators delegations between the
North-East and Thailand.
- To send tourists from Thailand to visit North-Eastern
States specially the Buddhist circuits.
- Tourism Desk at the Embassy of Thailand, New Delhi would
assist in promoting tourism destinations of the North-East
Region.
- Ministry of DoNER, Ministry of Industry, Thailand and
the Indian Chamber of Commerce would organize a tourism
convention either in Bangkok or North-East India in 2008.
- Arunachal Pradesh should aim to set up one world class
tourism facility in the State. The State Government should
also carry out a techno-economic survey to assess the
potential of the manufacturing sector in the State.
- ICC would initiate the process of setting up a
North-East Investment Desk at the Indian Embassy in Bangkok.
- The India Desk at Board of Investment, Thailand would
facilitate development of economic ties between
North-Eastern India and Thailand.
- The Thai government would also explore the possibilities
of importing fresh fruits and spices from the North-Eastern
Region of India.
- The Thai government also expressed their willingness to
extend cooperation in the field of education.
- The Bank of Bangkok offered assistance in finding
suitable Thai partners for the North-East India based
companies.
- The Bank of Bangkok also offered financial assistance
for viable projects based on provision of security from the
State Governments.
- ICC to take sectoral delegations to Thailand focusing on
Agro & Food processing, Construction and Tourism.
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