SPEECH
BY SHRI K.R.NARAYANAN, PRESIDENT OF INDIA, WHILE ACCEPTING CREDENTIALS
FROM MR. BANDHIT SOTIPALALIT, AMBASSADOR-DESIGNATE OF THE
KINGDOM OF THAILAND
NEW DELHI, APRIL 30, 2001
Excellency,
It
gives me great pleasure to receive from His Majesty, King Bhumibol Adulyadej
of Thailand, the Letter of Credence appointing you as the Ambassador Extraordinary
and Plenipotentiary of the Kingdom of Thailand to the Republic of India.
I extend a warm welcome to you and hope that your stay will be enjoyable
as well as fruitful.
I
would like to take this opportunity to thank His Majesty the King, for
the kind sentiments he has expressed for the people of India. May I request
Your Excellency to convey my best wishes to His Majesty for his continued
good health and personal well-being, as well as for the happiness and
prosperity of the people of Thailand.
India
and Thailand share centuries old history of trade and commerce, rich cultural
and religious links and common linguistic roots which bind our two countries
together. Our friendly and cordial relations have been strengthened by
periodic high level visits of our political leadership. Recently, we were
honoured to receive Her Royal Highness Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn
and hope to soon exchange further high level visits between our two countries.
In
recent years, our relationship has grown substantially in all areas. Besides
growth in economic and commercial sectors, we have expanded the scope
of our cultural and academic exchanges, our scientific and technical cooperation
and cooperation in human resources development. India wishes to further
enhance this ongoing cooperation with Thailand in various fields on the
basis of shared democratic values, friendship, equality, reciprocity and
mutual benefit. In the new millennium India wishes to enter into a new
partnership with Thailand, both on bilateral basis as well as through
sub-regional groupings such as BIMST-EC and the Ganga-Mekong Project.
India
attaches great importance to its relations with South East Asian countries
and aims, under its "Look East" policy, to further strengthen
these relations. We value our dialogue partnership with ASEAN and membership
of the ASEAN Regional Forum (ARF). Our interaction through ASEAN process
has been an enriching experience. The ARF has grown into a valuable forum
of interaction with ASEAN and several other countries with interest in
the region to discuss issues of peace and security. During the last year
an unprecedented number of high level visits between India and the countries
of the South East Asian region have taken place signifying mutual desire
of both India and member countries of ASEAN for closer engagement with
each other.
Excellency,
I am confident that during your tenure here, India and Thailand will continue
to work together in further strengthening our bilateral relations. I take
this opportunity to extend my Government’s full cooperation to your endeavours
in that direction.
Thank you
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