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NEW DELHI July 29 (AFP): Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh left for Bangkok Thursday to attend the maiden summit of seven Asian nations striving to forge a free trade accord, officials said.
Singh's participation in the two-day conference of BIMSTEC (Bangladesh, India, Myanmar, Sri Lanka and Thailand -- Economic Cooperation) which begins Friday marks his first overseas trip since he took office in May.
Apart from the five founding members of the organisation, Bhutan and Nepal have been recently admitted to the group formed to boost economic ties in the region.
Talking to reporters before his departure, Singh said, BIMSTEC was an "integral part of India's look-east policy".
"This is the first BIMSTEC summit. It will give political thrust and political direction to the ongoing process of strengthening regional cooperation among the countries," the Press Trust of India news agency quoted him as saying.
BIMSTEC, comprising the five founding members and new members Bhutan and Nepal, was formed in 1997 in the hope of forging closer trade ties through strengthened transport and information networks in the region.
Rajiv Sikri, special secretary in India's foreign ministry, said the member nations have already identified trade and investment, transport, tourism, communication, technology, energy and fisheries for "focussed cooperation."
"India sees a huge potential for cooperation in the development of hydro-carbon and hydro-power in the region," the official said Wednesday.
"The grouping has already signed a framework agreement covering not only trade in goods, but also services, investment and related economic coopeeration. The summit would discuss all aspects of making the region a free trade area by 2017," he said.
The threats of terrorism is also expected to figure in the two-day summit as the six countries have agreed to jointly combat it through exchange of information among their security agencies, Sikri said.
Inter-regional trade among the BIMSTEC nations currently hovers around 7.3 billion dollars, or about four percent of their total trade.
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