New Thai Ambassador to India assumes duty amidst business cheers

The Thai and Indian business communities in India have all the reasons to celebrate and welcome to India the new Ambassador of Thailand to India, H.E. Mr. Chalit Manityakul, who arrived in New Delhi earlier this month.

Ambassador Chalit, who recently completed his tenure as Thai Ambassador to Egypt, replaced Ambassador Pisan Manawapat as head of Thai diplomatic envoy in New Delhi. He is now working hard on how to formulate plans to promote economic ties between Thailand and India.

But New Delhi is not such a strange place for Ambassador Chalit. He began his career as a Thai diplomat at this very place 30 years ago. However, he said India had changed a lot since then and there are now enormous potentials for businesses from the two sides.

As far as his role as a Thai Ambassador is concerned, Ambassador Chalit has some very important priorities. One of them is to enhance even further the already flourishing trade ties between Thailand and India. Trade between the two countries nearly doubled in the past 5-6 years. In 2012 alone, bilateral trade stood at USD 8.7 billion, compared to USD 4.7 billion in 2007. He is hoping to work with Team Thailand, including Thai Trade Offices in India, to achieve the trade goal of USD 10 billion by 2015.

Apart from promoting greater areas of trade activities, he is also very keen on improving two-way investments. Ambassador Chalit has already instructed his staff to plan visits to important economic hubs of India, including Mumbai, Chennai, Bangalore, as well as to Gujarat State with which the Thai Government is aiming to engage more actively.

Ambassador Chalit said he was determined to continue what his predecessor had been doing so excellently. That is to encourage Thai businesses and investors to come to India to reap the benefit of this fast growing economy. He will continue to promote Thai investments in States such as Gujarat, Madhya Pradesh, and the Northeast.

As far as Indian investment in Thailand is concerned, the Ambassador will take the first chance to meet with his Thailand's Board of Investment colleague stationed in Mumbai to discuss ways and means to invite Indian business community to go and invest in Thailand.

Although this seems like a handful of work, Ambassador Chalit is definitely what they call 'the right man for the right job'. His experience as Consul-General in Shanghai working with the Thai businesses as well as foreign economic partners will surely help him master the highly competitive market like India.

Before coming to New Delhi for the second time, Ambassador Chalit previously served in several important postings, namely, London, Jakarta, Vientiane, Shanghai, and Cairo. (For his full profile click here)

Praphan Samphaiworakit
Reports from New Delhi
29 November 2013