At the invitation of Her Excellency Ms. Yingluck Shinawatra, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand, His Excellency Dr. Manmohan Singh, Prime Minister of the Republic of India, will pay an Official Visit to Thailand during 30 to 31 May 2013, as Guest of the Royal Thai Government.

The Royal Thai Government will hold the official welcoming ceremony on 30 May 2013  at Government House, followed by a meeting between the two Prime Ministers. The bilateral meeting reflects the desire of the two sides to elevate Thai-Indian relations to a strategic partnership, as announced in January last year, based on shared values of democracy and respect for human rights and shared interests in promoting sustainable growth and development.

The two Prime Ministers will review the development of existing cooperation as well as explore new areas of cooperation where both countries have mutual interests. Afterwards, Prime Minister Yingluck will host an official dinner in honour of Prime Minister Singh and his delegation. The Prime Minister of India and his delegation will depart Thailand  in the morning of 31 May 2013.

This is the first Official Visit to Thailand of Prime Minister Singh, who visited Thailand twice before, to attend the 1st BIMSTEC Summit in 2004 and the 15th ASEAN Summit in 2011. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Yingluck paid an Official Visit to India in January 2012 and attended India’s Republic Day celebrations as Chief Guest. She also visited India again in December 2012 to attend the ASEAN-India Commemorative Summit.

These frequent exchanges of high-level visits reflect the closer relations between the two nations as well as the ‘Look West’ policy of Thailand and Look East Policy of India respectively. The visits aim to strengthen further bilateral cooperation in all areas, especially in trade, investment and tourism as well as enhanced connectivity between Thailand and India and between Southeast Asia and South Asia. This closer cooperation should also benefit regional and global cooperation on issues of shared interest, from food and energy security to sustainable development.