Singh pushes for 'partnership'

In a meeting with Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, visiting Indian PM Manmohan Singh agreed yesterday to forge a “strategic partnership” to connect India with Asean via Thailand. 

He said India was interested in investing in the Thai-promoted Dawei deep-sea port and special economic zone in Myanmar to help link nations on the other side of the Bay of Bengal to Southeast Asia. 

Singh arrived in Bangkok yesterday on an official visit to fulfil India’s “Look East” policy and enhance bilateral relations.

He and Yingluck also discussed bilateral, regional and multilateral issues yesterday. 

A number of documents were also signed after the premiers’ meeting, including an extradition treaty and a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on exchanging information related to financial transactions in order to counter money laundering. 

The treaty and MoU are part of cooperation between Thai and Indian law-enforcement agencies, particularly those dealing with terrorism and transnational crimes, an official said. 

An MoU on space cooperation as well as education were also signed.

At the meeting, the two leaders highlighted the enhancement of connectivity, which is aimed to link India to Thailand via Myanmar and other Asean members. 

The connectivity should greatly benefit India’s Northeast region as New Delhi is engaging in a joint development project of building a tripartite highway and upgrading roads linking its northeastern states with Myanmar and Thailand.

 

Highway links

Apart from building roads within its territory, India will also help Myanmar develop road links and bridges within the country, while Thailand has agreed to build a road link from its western border to Myanmar. 

A joint working group on connectivity and infrastructure will host the next round of meetings to check on progress in June or July, India’s Ambassador to Thailand Anil Wadhwa said. The project should be completed by 2016. 

Singh and Yingluck also explored other cooperation possibilities in the Dawei project, as Thailand wants to promote it as a model for multilateral cooperation for Asean connectivity. 

India sees the Dawei project as an emerging regional logistics hub as it will open a shorter and quicker sea route to major Indian ports such as Chennai and Kolkata. 

The two premiers also brought up the establishment of a comprehensive free-trade agreement. Both sides have been trying to conclude the negotiations, but have yet to find common ground on the service sector. Moreover, India has expressed interest in cooperaton and investment in several other areas such as automobiles, space technology and bio-technology.