India,
Thailand to enter FTA in October
NEW
DELHI: India will enter into a free trade agreement (FTA) with Thailand
in October during Prime Minister Vajpayee's visit to that country. This
will be India's second FTA after the one it entered into with Sri Lanka
three years ago.
Deputy
prime minister of Thailand Korn Dabbaransi told a meeting of business
leaders organised by FICCI here on Wednesday that the FTA with India
is "on track" and it will be signed in October during Vajpayee's
Thailand visit.
Dabbaransi
said with the signing of the FTA, both sides would immediately reduce
tariffs on more than 80 products under the "early harvest programme".
The FTA will aim at reduccing tariffs on these products to zero by 2010.
Tariff reductions on products other than the first 80 would be gradually
phased in, following subsequent negotiations.
Commerce
minister Arun Jaitley told the meeting that the FTA that is presently
being negotiated between India and Thailand would pave the way for greater
bilateral trade and investment flows. He said the present level of two-way
trade of $ 1 billion is not a true reflection of the potential. He agreed
with Dabbaransi that the two countries should aim at doubling the two-way
trade volume to $2 billion a year.
Dabbaransi
observed that the FTA would have a positive impact on India-Thailand
trade and could raise the level of trade to $ 2 billion by the end of
2004. Dabbaransi also welcomed Indian investment in Thailand. He said
investment from India has always been important to Thailand. Over the
past 10 years, the value of Indian investment applications have envisaged
investments of over 34 billion baht, which makes India the 14th most
important investor for Thailand, ahead of Belgium, Spain and Australia.
The
Thai deputy PM informed the audience that steps are being taken to implement
bureaucratic reforms in his country. He was of the opinion that Thailand's
bureaucracy has become redundant thus calling for reforms. He said his
government has implemented certain measures to rationalise the civil
service system with the objective of enhancing Thailand's efficiency
and competitiveness
PRIYA RANJAN DASH
TIMES NEWS NETWORK
[ WEDNESDAY,
AUGUST 06, 2003 06:59:57 PM ]
