• Paetongtarn Shinawatra, became Thailand’s Prime Minister after receiving a royal letter of endorsement, two days after she was chosen by Parliament following a court order that removed her predecessor.

• Earlier, the Constitutional Court removed Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin, after less than a year in office. The court found him guilty of a serious ethical breach for appointing a Cabinet minister who had been jailed for contempt of court after an alleged attempt to bribe a judge.

• Paetongtarn is also Thailand’s second female Prime Minister after her aunt, and the country’s youngest leader at 37.

• She replaces another leader from the same Pheu Thai Party, at the head of a coalition that includes military parties associated with the coup that deposed the party’s last government.

• Paetongtarn is the third Shinawatra to hold the job, after her billionaire father Thaksin Shinawatra and her aunt Yingluck Shinawatra. Both were removed from office and forced into exile in coups, although Thaksin returned to Thailand last year as Pheu Thai formed a government.

• She received the letter of appointment in a ceremony at the party’s headquarters in Bangkok. The approval by King Maha Vajiralongkorn, a formality, was read out by House of Representatives Secretary Apat Sukhanand at a ceremony in Bangkok on August 18.

• Paetongtarn, known in Thailand by her nickname Ung Ing, is Thaksin’s youngest child. She grew up in Bangkok and studied hotel management in Britain.

• Paetongtarn, who has not served in government previously, faces challenges on multiple fronts, with the economy floundering and the popularity of her Pheu Thai party dwindling.

India-Thailand bilateral relations

• India and Thailand share a maritime boundary in the Andaman Sea. 

• India’s bilateral relations with Thailand are rooted in history, age-old social and cultural interactions and extensive people to people contacts. The shared link of Buddhism is reflected in regular pilgrimages to places of Buddhist interest in India by a large number of Thai people.

• Thailand, which aspires to be a regional hub given its central location in South East Asia, initiated a ‘Look West’ policy in 1997. The ‘Look West’ policy of Thailand complements India’s ‘Look East’ policy, which is now elevated to ‘Act East’ policy and has provided the basis for a substantive elevation of bilateral relations. Thailand also launched its ‘Act West’ policy in 2016.

• The strategic location of Thailand at the heart of South East Asia makes it the gateway to ASEAN as the region has integrated into the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). In ASEAN region, Thailand is the fourth largest trading partner of India after Singapore, Indonesia and Malaysia.

• Thailand plays an important role in various regional and sub-regional groupings. It is, therefore, an important partner for India in the India-ASEAN Summit Level Partnership, the East Asia Summit (EAS), the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), the Mekong Ganga Cooperation (MGC), Asia Cooperation Dialogue (ACD) Indian Ocean Rim Association (IORA) and Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS). 

• Both countries celebrated the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic relations in 2022.

Defence Cooperation

• The MoU on Defence Cooperation between India and Thailand was signed in January 2012. Since 2015, India has participated in Ex-Cobra Gold, the largest Asia Pacific Military exercise as ‘Observer Plus’ category. Bilateral exercises are held annually between the armed forces of both countries. 

• The other ongoing defence cooperation initiatives comprises of bi-annual joint maritime patrolling by the navies of both countries, annual staff talks, subject matter expert exchange visits and training of officers at each other’s institutions. 

Trade relations

• Thailand views India as the gateway to South Asia and beyond. As a result of the reduced tariff rates and new initiatives adopted by both the countries, trade between two countries increased manifold in recent years.

• Bilateral trade between India and Thailand stood at $16.04 billion in 2023 with exports from India to Thailand at $5.92 billion and imports from Thailand to India at $10.11 billion. 

• Investment from Thailand in India has increased in recent years. Thai investments are mainly in infrastructure, real estate, Agro processing, electronics, automotive, food processing sectors, hotel hospitality sector and renewable energy sector.

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