The Hindu Business Line : `Thailand, India free trade pact talks apace'

Pact on way: The Thailand Prime Minister, Gen Surayud Chulanont, and the Minister for Commerce and Industry, Mr Kamal Nath, at a meeting with India Inc in the Capital on Tuesday. - Ramesh Sharma

New Delhi June 26 Thailand and India are on track to conclude negotiations in the near future with a view to having a free trade agreement (FTA) covering trade in goods by 2010, the visiting Prime Minister of Thailand, Gen. Surayud Chulanont, said here today.

Confirming this, the Commerce and Industry Minister, Mr Kamal Nath, said that fresh negotiations on an Indo-Thai FTA would begin next month. "Discussions would be held not just for trade in goods, but also in services," the Minister said, on the sidelines of a summit hosted for the Thailand Prime Minister here. The Commerce Secretary, Mr Gopal K Pillai, added that an agreement would be reached for trade in goods by September.

Earlier, addressing a business summit, Gen Chulanont said, "We very much look forward to concluding regional FTAs in the frameworks of ASEAN and BIMSTEC and to concluding mutually beneficial agreements such as the bilateral FTA with India."

Since elimination of tariffs on 82 products under the Early Harvest Scheme for the FTA in 2004, India-Thailand bilateral trade recorded remarkable growth, he said.

"Total two-way trade in 2006 rose to around $3.4 billion, and with $1.3 billion trade already recorded during the first four months of this year, the agreed target of $4 billion for the year appears highly likely to be achieved," he added.

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