Improve quality to boost exports: Thai minister

new delhi: all claims to improve export revenues from thailand came crashing down when a thai business delegation raised questions on the consistency in the quality of indian exports. a business delegation, led by thai minister for foreign affairs surakiart sathirathai, said the quality of items exported, particularly apples, from india had not been good.this was cited as a reason for slack in exports from india. the indian exports to thailand increased marginally by $15 million last year. between april 1999 and march 2000, total exports to thailand was $457.26 million. this rose to $470.75 million between april 2000 and february 2001. lack of coordination between the joint trade committee and business council was also blamed for the slow growth in trade and business between the nations. speaking at a conference organised by the federation of indian chambers of commerce and industry, the thai minister outlined a series of measures taken by his country to attract foreign investment and boost bilateral trade with other countries. "our country provides a gateway to the south-east asian nations. we are looking forward to an agreement with india which will increase the trade between the two countries from less than one billion to more than two billion within three years," he said. for this sathirathai called for a bilateral free trade agreement. moreover, ficci secretary-general amit mitra was quick to find commonalties between the liberalisation steps being taken in thailand and india. this included privatisation and restructuring of public sector enterprises and moves towards stabilising the currency. the thai minister also mooted the creation of orec, organisation of rice exporting countries, like opec, organisation of petroleum exporting countries. the delegation also showed keen interest in the indian it and software expertise and said both countries can cooperate to increase tourism and chalk out policies for aviation sector. thailand was one of the asian countries which was badly hit by the asian economic crisis of 1997-98. but with assistance from asian development bank and the world bank they are on the recovery path. the country is expecting a 1.8 per cent growth and has a current account surplus of $1.4 billion with the balance of payment also being in the positive. the joint trade committee and business council will meet on september 10 this year to discuss trade-related issues. this was disclosed at the conference by ministry of commerce additional secretary v k duggal. thailand will have a new indian ambassador. leela ponappa, additional secretary, ministry has been assigned for the job. later this year, thai prime minister, thaksin shinawatra will be visiting in november and the thai king is scheduled to visit india in february 2002.