Dear all fellow Thais in India,   

On the auspicious occasion of the wonderful New Year of 2024, along with the team at the Royal Thai Embassy, the Consulate General in Kolkata, Mumbai, and Chennai, I wish to send our warm wishes for the New Year. We are delighted to see the Thai communities in India living in harmony and solidarity. The Thailand Team stands ready to render the support to further strengthen the Thai communities in India.

In 2023, the India-Thailand relations achieved a number of impressive progresses in several dimensions ranging from political exchanges, military and security cooperations, trade and investment promotions, to tourism and cultural collaborations. The bilateral partnership benefitted from several high-level visits including the visit of Indian External Affairs Minister to Thailand in January 2023, the visit of Thai Foreign Minister to India for BIMSTEC Foreign Ministerial Retreat in July 2023, the 7^th Foreign Office Consultations, Thailand-India Defence Dialogue, and joint military exercises. Thailand and India have also bolstered bilateral cooperation. Trade volume between the two countries has reached new high 17.7 billion USD in 2022 and the bilateral investment sector also continues to grow. A number of Indian tourists visited Thailand has also increased to 1.6 million making Indian tourists the third largest group in 2023.

The Embassy and the Thailand Team joined force to continuously explore/enhance opportunities for Thais in India by the promotion of Thai products, culture and tourism sector throughout the year. We organized the annual “Namaste Thailand Festival” in New Delhi, “Amazing Thailand Festival” in Kolkata and Mumbai, and so on, to showcase the rich culture that makes the identity of “Thainess”. In partnership with well-known hotels in New Delhi, Kolkata, Chennai and Hyderabad, several food promotion events were also organized. We were also delighted to work with the National Museum in New Delhi, and Bihar Museum in organizing the special exhibition “The Indo-Siam Connect: Tracing the Indian Heritage in Thai Art and Living traditions” which celebrated our common heritage and historical legacy.

Moreover, as part of our regional commitment to ASEAN, we also focused on raising ASEAN visibility in India and more engagements through the ASEAN-New Delhi Committee. Along with our ASEAN colleagues, we organized the ASEAN-India Bazaar and ASEAN-India Youth Summit and seminars. Such engagements also contributed to the enhancement of Thailand-India partnership.

My team and I also valued our opportunities to reach out to a number of states in India such as West Bengal, Sikkim, Maharashtra, and Kerala, which gave us some interesting regional perspectives and angels to the promotion of Thailand-India relationships. In this regard, we found that there is a huge potential in fields of trade, investment, tourism, start-up and education remaining to be untapped. Promotion and preservation of Buddhism also lies at the heart of our endeavor.

To facilitate Thai citizens to fulfill their duty, we also held the overseas election for Thailand's 2023 general election for Thai citizens who are residing in India in April last year.

Along with my colleagues in the Thailand team, I remain committed to working with you to tap immense potentials that India has to offer, as well as to forge closer relations between the two countries. We aim to do more than what was achieved in 2023.

Lastly, my team and I would like to extend our appreciation for your continued support. We wish you and your family abundant joy, prosperity, good health, and happiness in this New Year!

Pattarat Hongtong

Ambassador

22 January 2024

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