As Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Thai counterpart Paetongtarn Shinawatra discussed ways to improve trade and investment as well as strengthen collaboration in defense, security, and combating cybercrimes and human trafficking, India and Thailand upgraded their relationship to a strategic partnership on Thursday.
A day before Thailand hosts the Bimstec Summit on Friday, the two leaders met in Bangkok. Within the scope of India’s “Act East” policy, bilateral defense and security cooperation has progressively increased, with Thailand being one of India’s major allies in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean).
During a joint media meeting with Shinawatra, Modi expressed India’s sincere condolences for the deaths caused by the March 28 earthquake that struck Thailand and Myanmar. He said: “Thailand has a special place in India’s ‘Act East’ policy and our Indo-Pacific vision. Today we have decided to give our relations the form of a strategic partnership.” Speaking in Hindi, he added, “We also discussed the establishment of a strategic dialogue between our security agencies.”
With an eye toward China, Modi stated that India is entirely in favor of Asean unity and that both nations embrace an Indo-Pacific system that is free, open, inclusive, and based on norms. As maritime neighbors, the Asean region’s peace, stability, and development are of mutual interest to both parties.
Modi impliedly referred to China’s growing assertiveness in the South and East China Seas when he stated, “We believe in the policy of development, not expansionism.” In a social media post, he also mentioned how Thailand’s “Act West” and India’s “Act East” strategies enhance one another and create opportunities for collaboration.
Modi said in the social media post the two sides discussed cooperation in strategic areas such as defence, security, maritime safety and hydrography. “We also reiterated our commitment to working together to overcome the challenges of terrorism, money laundering and more,” he said in the post. At the media meeting, Modi thanked the Thai government for helping repatriate Indian people who had been the victims of cybercrime and said the two countries agreed that their security forces will cooperate to fight illegal migration and human trafficking.
Thailand was instrumental in the repatriation of around 550 of its citizens last month after they were released from cybercrime hotspots along the Myanmar border. The Indians were transported to cybercrime hotspots, primarily controlled by Chinese criminal gangs, in Myanmar’s dangerous border regions after being enticed to Thailand or Myanmar with false promises of employment in the IT industry.
Modi said the two sides also emphasised cooperation in tourism, culture, education between India’s landlocked northeastern states and Thailand. They discussed ways to boost trade and investment and business exchanges. “We have decided to increase cooperation in renewable energy, digital technology, e-vehicle, robotics, space, biotechnology and start-ups. Along with physical connectivity, work will be done to increase fintech connectivity between the two countries,” he said. India has begun issuing free e-visas to Thai tourists to promote people-to-people exchanges.
Two-way trade between India and Thailand, which is Asean’s second biggest economy, was worth $16 billion in 2023, with imports from Thailand accounting for $10.11. Within the Asean region, Thailand is India’s fourth largest trade partner after Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia. Besides a joint declaration on establishing the strategic partnership, the two sides signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) on cooperation in digital technologies, an MoU for developing the National Maritime Heritage Complex at Lothal, and an MoU on cooperation in micro, small and medium enterprises.
Two agreements pertaining to India’s northeastern states were also finalized by the two parties: one between Thailand’s Creative Economy Agency and the North Eastern Handicrafts and Handlooms Development Corporation, and another between Thailand’s foreign ministry and India’s ministry of northeastern regional development.
Along with highlighting the longstanding religious and cultural connections between Thailand and India, Modi stated: “Scholars from Ayutthaya have exchanged with Nalanda. Thai folklore is strongly rooted in the Ramayana, and languages and customs continue to be influenced by Pali and Sanskrit.
He pointed out that over four million people visited the sacred relics of the Lord Buddha that were transported from India to Thailand the previous year. He declared that holy artifacts discovered in the 1960s in Gujarat’s Aravallis would also be shipped to Thailand.
He thanked the Thai government for offering him a special edition of the Tripitaka, a compilation of Buddhist texts, which was released in 2016 to honor the reign of Thai King Rama IX, and for issuing a special stamp based on mural paintings of the Ramayana from the 18th century to commemorate his visit.
