The recent elevation of India-Thailand relations to a strategic level highlights India’s deepening engagement in Southeast Asia through the Act East Policy and its broader Indo-Pacific vision.

India-Thailand Relations

• Strategic Upgrade: The move reflects a smart foreign policy strategy by New Delhi, showcasing the growing importance of Southeast Asia in India’s strategic outlook.
  • Thailand is emerging as a key regional partner for India, bolstered by longstanding historical and cultural ties and shared strategic interests.
• Indian PM Visit: During his official visit to Thailand, Prime Minister Narendra Modi underscored that Thailand holds a “special place” in India’s Act East Policy. 
  • Modi emphasized that Thailand is integral to India’s Indo-Pacific vision, reaffirming its role in India’s regional strategy.
• Implications: The elevation of ties is a strategic diplomatic move designed to enhance regional stability, deepen economic integration, and jointly address emerging security challenges, reflecting a shared commitment to long-term cooperation and mutual growth.
• Multilateral Engagement: Both nations reaffirm their shared commitment to a rules-based Indo-Pacific, emphasizing compact connectivity and the institutional strengthening of regional groupings, 
  • particularly BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation), to foster greater regional cooperation and resilience.
• Sectoral Expansion: The India–Thailand strategic partnership seeks to broaden cooperation across diverse sectors
  • Including defence and security, cybercrime and maritime safety, trade and investment, innovation and start-ups, renewable energy, education, tourism, and enhanced people-to-people exchanges, reinforcing a comprehensive and future-focused bilateral agenda.
• Strategic Coordination: Both nations have agreed to institutionalise high-level consultations, notably through a Strategic Dialogue between their National Security Councils.
  • And to enhance defence cooperation via technology transfers, joint military training, and defence industry collaboration, strengthening their shared security architecture.
• Trade: While Thailand stands as India’s 4th-largest trading partner in ASEAN, the widening trade deficit underscores the need for a more balanced economic relationship, prompting India’s trade push for greater market access in agricultural products
  • Generic pharmaceuticals, and services, along with exploring local currency-based trade settlements to mitigate forex volatility.
• Navigating Global Uncertainties: Ongoing global economic uncertainties necessitate stronger bilateral coordination to shield trade and investment ties from external shocks.
• Future-Ready Industries: India and Thailand are advancing collaboration in next-generation sectors including electric vehicles (EVs), digital payments and fintech, space technology, and circular economy initiatives, positioning their partnership to be future-ready and innovation-driven.
• Strengthening the ASEAN Framework: Both sides are committed to accelerating the review of the ASEAN-India Trade in Goods Agreement (AITIGA).
  • Aiming for its conclusion by the end of 2025, with success hinging on promoting investment, reducing non-tariff barriers such as quotas and technical standards, and aligning regulatory frameworks with evolving global norms.
• Maritime Connectivity: Thailand’s geopolitical position makes it crucial for the success of India’s Act East Policy and the Indo-Pacific strategy. 
  • It acts as a gateway to the ASEAN heartland and shares maritime space in the Andaman Sea, enabling potential for Trilateral and multilateral maritime collaboration
    
• Institutional Anchors: Thailand contributes to regional stability through participation in key groupings such as ASEAN, BIMSTEC, Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC), and Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA). It functions as a bridge between South and Southeast Asia
• ASEAN Centrality: India leverages the Indo-Pacific construct to reinforce its commitment to ASEAN Centrality and actively engages through multilateral platforms such as the 
  • East Asia Summit, Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA), and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), promoting inclusive regional cooperation.
• Shared Commitment: India and Thailand affirm their shared support for a free, open, inclusive, and rules-based Indo-Pacific
  • Emphasizing the implementation of both the ASEAN Outlook on the Indo-Pacific (AOIP) and India’s Indo-Pacific Oceans Initiative (IPOI), with Thailand co-leading (alongside Australia) the Maritime Ecology Pillar of the IPOI.
• Regional Synergy: Institutional complementarity between India and Thailand enhances proactive multilateralism. 
  • Builds resilience against strategic coercion, particularly China’s maritime assertiveness. The Bay of Bengal region and BIMSTEC exemplify how this synergy operates effectively

BIMSTEC and the Bay of Bengal

• Significance of Bay of Bengal: The Bay of Bengal has emerged as a theatre of strategic alliance and economic opportunity. BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation) is central to this regionalism.
  • India and Thailand, as founding members and the two largest economies, lead this initiative.
• Institutional Reforms: Recent adoption of the BIMSTEC Charter and Master Plan for Transport Connectivity marks a renewed strategic push. These instruments aim to create institutional stability and infrastructural coherence in the region.
• 6th BIMSTEC Summit: At the 6th BIMSTEC Summit, India and Thailand jointly emphasized the faster implementation of the Motor Vehicles Agreement.
  • It enhanced coastal shipping, and strengthened port-to-port linkages to boost regional mobility and trade flows, recognizing these efforts as vital for connecting India’s Northeast with Southeast Asia.
• Connectivity Initiatives: These developments are aligned with Prime Minister Modi’s MAHASAGAR vision (Mutual and Holistic Advancement for Security and Growth Across Regions). 
  • The India-Myanmar-Thailand Trilateral Highway is a flagship project for deepening cross-border connectivity.
• Strategic Alternative: SAARC’s political gridlock has reduced its effectiveness. BIMSTEC serves as a pragmatic vehicle under India’s Neighbourhood First Policy It offers a viable route for regional economic integration and a counterweight to China’s Belt and Road Initiative
• Security Cooperation: BIMSTEC facilitates joint action against transnational challenges such as terrorism, cybercrime, human trafficking, and illicit trade, accomplished through coordinated regional security architectures led by India and Thailand.

Challenges Associated with India-Thailand Relations

• Market Access Issues: India faces a significant trade deficit with Thailand, which underscores the need for greater market access for Indian goods and the diversification of the bilateral trade basket to ensure a more balanced economic relationship.
• Infrastructure Bottlenecks: Infrastructure gaps and bureaucratic delays hinder key projects like the India–Myanmar–Thailand Trilateral Highway
• Instability: Political instability in Myanmar adds uncertainty to connectivity initiatives
• Misalignments: Regulatory misalignments and lack of mutual recognition of standards also obstruct smooth trade flows
• Pressures from China: China’s expanding influence in the Bay of Bengal, through economic investments and a growing strategic presence, necessitates stronger India–Thailand coordination to safeguard maritime commons and preserve regional autonomy in the face of these emerging challenges.

Way Forward

• Enhanced Cooperation: Both nations aim to implement the Joint Plan of Action to provide direction and continuity to their cooperation, focusing on key areas such as enhanced joint production and technology transfer in defence, addressing non-tariff barriers, and streamlining regulatory standards. 
  • Additionally, they seek to deepen cross-sectoral collaboration in renewable energy, artificial intelligence (AI), fintech, and space technology.
• People-Centric Engagement: Engage private sector, academic institutions, and youth through collaborative platforms. Foster innovation-led partnerships to create long-term resilience and inclusivity.

Conclusion

With the Bay of Bengal becoming central to the Indo-Pacific architecture, Thailand’s role is crucial for India’s ASEAN outreach. By aligning their bilateral aspirations with regional and global frameworks, India and Thailand can lead a new era of Asian regionalism that is vibrant, cooperative, and strategically balanced.

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