BANGKOK: India has described Thailand as a valued partner in its ‘Act East’ Policy and said it envisage a more vigorous and proactive engagement with the strategic and economically vibrant Southeast Asia region as part of its efforts to reposition itself at the world stage.
“Our Government is resolved to move with a great sense of priority and speed to implement the ‘Act East Policy’,” External Affairs Minister Sushma Swaraj said here during an interaction with Indian business leaders.
“We envisage a more vigorous and proactive engagement with this economically vibrant region of our extended neighborhood,” she said, insisting that the NDA government has engaged closely with India’s neighborhood, strengthened bilateral ties with major countries, energized engagement with the East and repositioned India at the world stage.
She said that India’s ‘Look East’ Policy of the last two decades has been elevated to ‘Act East’ Policy under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi.
“I am happy to say that we have reached new milestones in our global outreach and made significant achievements in the last one year in transforming our relations with the outside world,” said Swaraj, who is here on a three-day bilateral visit and to attend the 16th World Sanskrit Conference.
Describing Thailand as an important pillar of India’s policy and a valued partner, she said the relationship between the two countries has expanded to virtually all areas of bilateral cooperation in recent years.
“Our bilateral relations with Thailand are based on deep- rooted cultural, religious and neighborly association between the people of our two nations. Our common heritage of Buddhism and the philosophy of compassion, tolerance, non-violence and peace have laid strong foundations for this relationship,” she said.
“I am pleased to see that so many of you are in the leadership positions in corporates in Thailand and the region.
In you I see the strength of our people-to-people relations.
And in you I also see an influential group of leaders who can contribute to the economic growth of both Thailand and India,” she told the leading Indian business leaders here.
She said her government is working on the simple 3C mantra – Commerce, Culture and Connectivity.
“In all these three areas I cannot overemphasize the importance of Thailand. We have embarked on ambitious projects for land connectivity with Thailand through Myanmar. We are also working on enhancing our sea connectivity with Thailand which is a maritime neighbor of India,” she said.
Noting that the enhanced connectivity with Thailand will help Indian traders and businesses to link up with the markets of Southeast Asia, Swaraj said this would also help North Eastern States in their development and strengthening the people-to-people contacts between the two countries.
“Our Government came with the slogan of Minimum Government, Maximum Governance. We have strived to offer a stable, predictable and transparent policy regime, making the country an attractive destination for investors. The last one year of the new government has contributed to economic good governance and all round development,” she said.
She said Prime Minister Modi has focused on moving fast in designing policies and laws to promote growth and offering foreign investors ‘red carpet’ instead of ‘red tape’.
“In the last one year, FDI limits have been raised in insurance and construction sectors and foreign investment limits have been raised in defense and railways. The hallmark of the Governments policy has been to facilitate infrastructure development and manufacturing,” she said.
She listed a number of flagship schemes launched by the government to make India as a global manufacturing hub and rejuvenate the economic growth.
“The Government has gone ahead with structural reforms and arrived at a consensus with the States on bringing the amendment to the constitution to implement the Goods and Services Tax. There have been reforms in the labor, banking, insurance and pension sectors,” she said.
She said the government has implemented a slew of measures which can be categorized under ‘ease of doing business’.
“We are building a tax regime that is predictable, stable and competitive and have brought in a positive regulatory framework,” Swaraj said.
“We appreciate the role and contribution of the Indian community in Thailand in building the economic and commercial partnership and goodwill between the two countries. The Indian community in Thailand truly represents the entrepreneurial spirit that marks modern India and we are proud of your great accomplishments in all areas of human endeavor,” she added.
“The economies of India and Thailand share complementarities in several important sectors. You could utilize these complementarities to contribute to the tremendous growth that has been witnessed in our bilateral trade in the last 10 years,” she said and invited them to become a part of the mission and assured them of all necessary support.
“I would urge the Indian Diaspora in Thailand to also consider the avenues for collaboration and be integrated to a growing India and to contribute to the ambitious initiatives of the Government of India aimed at bringing welfare to its citizens,” Swaraj said.
“You would have noticed that there is new level of interest from across the world in building partnerships of trade, investment and innovation in India. Let me convey the invitation from our PM to do business and make in India – for India and the world,” she said.
Swaraj said the government would be happy to provide all necessary support in their endeavor through Indian Embassy, which will channel their proposals to various states of India and convey their concerns and suggestions to the government.
This was Swaraj’s second interaction with Indian Diaspora during her Thailand visit.
Addressing them at dinner meeting earlier, Swaraj had said, “I have come here to tell you to give some attention to India.”
“Invest a part of what you are earning here in works like construction of a toilet in your village…Do a bit for your country from whatever capacity and strength you have acquired here,” she said.
Assuming that Indians living here might have left their country earlier due to lack of opportunities in past, Swaraj said, “but today there are so many opportunities that time has now come to return to India. Today when you have gained strength, time has come back to pay back to your soil.
You should definitely spare a part of your earning for India.”
It is estimated that there are around two lakh people of Indian-origin in Thailand.
In her address, Swaraj had said, “We have focused on economic diplomacy as one of our priority areas and set goals for efficient and timely provision of Consular Services as a key benchmark for our Missions abroad.”
This is the first high level bilateral visit from India after the formation of new governments in both countries.
India’s excellent relations with Thailand are an important and integral component of India’s strategic partnership with ASEAN. India’s ‘Act East’ policy is complemented by Thailand’s ‘Look West’ policy in bringing the two countries closer, she said.
India and Thailand have strong economic synergies and the diversifying profile of growing bilateral trade and investment reflects the growth and maturity of the two economies, Swaraj said.
Extensive people-to-people contacts are central to the India-Thailand relationship.
In 2014, around one million Indian tourists visited Thailand and over 100,000 Thai tourists visited India. -PTI
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