India and Thailand Tuesday signed two agreements in energy and culture and stepped up negotiations to conclude a landmark free trade agreement (FTA) by 2010 that is expected to multiply trade and investment between the two nations, according to dpa. A memorandum of understanding (MoU) on enhanced cooperation in renewable energy was signed by Vilas Muttemwar, Minister of State for New and Renewable Energy, and Thai Energy Minister Piyasvasti Amranand. The MoU envisages joint research and development and information networking and exchange of information in the areas of photo-voltaic cells, solar thermal energy, bio-gas, bio-mass, small hydro and wind energy. Another deal on enhancing cultural cooperation was signed by Badal Das, secretary in the ministry of culture, and Cholchineepan Chiranond, deputy permanent secretary in the Thai ministry of culture. The MoUs were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and his Thai counterpart Surayud Chulanont after the two leaders held formal talks on a wide range of bilateral, regional and global issues. Appreciating the work being done by the Indo-Thai Joint Working Group on security cooperation, the two leaders agreed to expedite the talks on pending defence and security-related agreements and memoranda of understanding for their early conclusion and implementation, reported PTI. The two sides also signed an agreement on Executive Programme of Cultural Exchange for 2007-09 and condemned terrorism in all forms and manifestations as "criminal and unjustifiable, irrespective of the motives". Earlier, while speaking to top business leaders of India, Gen. Surayud, a former army chief, sought to allay apprehensions of investors after a military-led government took over power in a coup in Thailand last September. He stressed that the Thai economy was growing at a rate of over four percent and that full democracy would be restored after elections, to be held before the year-end. "Our two countries are on track to conclude an FTA in near future, with a view to establishing the FTA covering trade in goods by 2010," he said in his keynote address at a business summit organised here by three apex business bodies of India. Surayud arrived here Monday evening on a three-day visit that also takes him to Kolkata as well as historical places like Varanasi and Sarnath. Painting a buoyant picture of steadily burgeoning business ties, the Thai leader announced the launching of a week-long India-Thailand FTA roadshow from June 28 to July 4 and invited Indian investments in IT and pharmaceutical sectors - two areas in which India has proven expertise. Thailand's Deputy Foreign Minister Sawanit Kongsiri will lead a prominent group of investors on the roadshow to important Indian cities to explore business opportunities that will come into play after the FTA comes into effect, Surayud said. Calling India "Thailand's new major market and a key engine of the rising Asian economy," Surayud underlined the importance of the proposed FTA and said that since the elimination of tariffs on 82 items under the early harvest scheme of limited FTA in 2004, bilateral trade had jumped to 3.4 billion dollars last year. Surayud said his country would start fresh talks with India next month to conclude, by September, a free trade accord aimed at boosting bilateral trade, with the full trade agreement by 2010. The India-Thai talks on free trade were launched during a visit by Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh to Thailand last year and prior to the coup, but progress has been slow.
