Bangkok: India and Thailand on April 5 agreed to intensify efforts to enhance economic ties and work closely in combating terrorism, drug trafficking and other issues of mutual concern.

During wide-ranging discussions External Affairs Minister Jaswant Singh had with his Thai counterpart Surakiart Sathirathai, the two sides decided to further broaden and deepen the content of their bilateral relations.

Although the bilateral trade has been growing steadily, it was felt that the volume of the trade was still relatively small considering the size of the economies of the two countries and the existing potential.

With food processing and agro-based industry well developed in Thailand, Thai companies have started evincing interest for investment in this area in India.

Sathirathai said Thai business groups were also interested in investing in other areas like iron and steel, industrial estate development, building of roads and highways and the construction sector.

Thai companies have also shown interest in investing in areas like animal feed, automobile and fisheries.

The two leaders share the view that there is tremendous scope for expanding co- operation in tourism with Thailand offering to share its experience in promoting this in India.

Threat posed by terrorism and security-related issues figured during the talks.

In the wake of the September 11 terror strikes in the US, there has been growing recognition in South Asia that all the countries need to be vigilant on this score.

Thailand has initiated a security dialogue with some of the ASEAN members in this regard.

On the marginal decrease in Thai exports to India last year, the Thai side contended that higher customs duties in India and stiff competition from China and Indonesia were some of the factors for this.

Trade between the two countries crossed the $ 1 billion US dollar mark in 2000 but came down by 3.1 per cent last year. While exports from India registered a growth of 7.72 per cent, imports from Thailand declined by 15.14 per cent.

The two sides agreed that joint efforts should be initiated to tackle the problem of drug trafficking, piracy as also fishermen straying into each other's territorial waters.

With India now being widely acknowledged as a top leader in information technology software, the Thai side is exploring prospects of enhancing bilateral co-operation in this area.

PTI