13th Meeting of India-Thailand JTC

• 21 Apr 2023

On April 20, 2023, the 13th Meeting of India Thailand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) took place in New Delhi.

• This was the first physical meeting of the JTC after it was revived in 2020, following a 17-year gap.
• Thailand is an important trading partner of India in ASEAN with a total trade of USD 16.89 Billion in 2022-23, accounting for 13.6% of India's total trade with ASEAN.
• India's gems and jewelry, mechanical machinery, auto and auto components, and agricultural products, especially marine products are in high demand in Thailand.
• During the meeting, the chairs reviewed the status of bilateral trade and emphasized the need to identify new potential products and priority sectors to expand the bilateral trade.
• The two sides also discussed various market access issues and technical barriers faced by their exporters and agreed to resolve them 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.
• Additionally, there was a consensus that there is a significant scope for 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 ongoing efforts to connect Unified Payment Interface (UPI) of India with Prompt Pay Service of Thailand and the settlement of trade transactions in local currency.