NEW DELHI: India and Thailand on Thursday stressed the need to establish mutual recognition in key services such as nursing, accounting, audiovisual and medical tourism, besides expanding bilateral trade in new products such as value-added marine items, smartphones, electric vehicles, food processing and pharmaceuticals, the commerce ministry said.
The two countries decided to expand bilateral trade at the 13th meeting of the India-Thailand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) held in New Delhi, the first physical meeting of the JTC that was revived in 2020 after a gap of 17 years.
Thailand is India’s key trading partner in ASEAN with total trade of $16.89 billion in 2022-23. The Asian nation accounts for 13.6% of India’s total trade with ASEAN.
Reviewing the status of bilateral trade at the meeting, both sides emphasised the need for identifying new potential products and priority sectors for expanding bilateral trade. The meeting was co-chaired by Thailand’s director general of the department of trade negotiations Auramon Supthaweethum and the commerce ministry’s joint secretary Indu C Nair.
Both sides also discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve the same through regular and sustained bilateral discussions, the commerce ministry statement said. “India raised the restriction faced in its export of marine, poultry and meat products,” it added.
{{/usCountry}}Both sides also discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve the same through regular and sustained bilateral discussions, the commerce ministry statement said. “India raised the restriction faced in its export of marine, poultry and meat products,” it added.
{{/usCountry}}“Both sides identified a range of potential commodities and sectors for strengthened partnership such as value added marine products, smartphones, electric vehicles, food processing and pharmaceuticals,” it said. The countries also agreed that there is huge scope for collaboration in the service sector and agreed to explore establishing mutual recognition arrangements in nursing, accounting, audiovisual and medical tourism, it added.
The meeting also reviewed the progress of the ongoing efforts on connecting the Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of India with the Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency.
Thailand is an important destination for India’s gems and jewellery, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components and agricultural products, especially marine products.