The 13th Meeting of India Thailand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) was held in New Delhi. The meeting was co-chaired by Director General of Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, Ms. Auramon Supthaweethum and Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce & Industry, India Ms. Indu C. Nair. This was the first physical meeting of the JTC after it was revived in 2020, after 17 years.

Thailand is India’s important trading partner in ASEAN with total trade of USD 16.89 Billion in 2022-23. Thailand accounts for 13.6% of India’s total trade with ASEAN. Thailand is an important destination for India’s gems and jewellery, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components and agricultural products especially marine products.

Reviewing the status of bilateral trade and each partner’s  modest share in  other’s global imports, the chairs emphasised the need for identifying new potential products and priority sectors for expanding the bilateral trade. 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. India raised the restriction faced in its export of marine, poultry and meat products. 

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.  The countries also agreed that there is huge scope in collaboration in the Service Sector and agreed to explore establishing mutual recognition/cooperation  arrangements in Nursing, Accounting, Audio Visual and Medical Tourism.

The meeting also reviewed the progress of the ongoing efforts on  connecting Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of India with  Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency.

Bilateral trade expansion through market access resolution and sectoral cooperation, plus payment system integration for local currency settlements. The meeting focused on expanding bilateral trade by targeting new products and priority sectors, addressing market access issues and technical barriers-with India noting restrictions on marine, poultry and meat exports-and agreed to resolve these through sustained bilateral discussions. It identified cooperation areas including value added marine products, smartphones, electric vehicles, food processing and pharmaceuticals, explored mutual recognition arrangements in services such as nursing and accounting, and reviewed progress on connecting UPI with PromptPay to enable local currency trade settlements.