Bangkok: India and Thailand on October 9 signed a landmark Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and four other accords for enhancing cooperation in agriculture, tourism and science.

The FTA will provide a free trade area in goods to begin by year 2010 and in services and investment from 2006.

The other agreements signed were Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on agricultural cooperation, MoU on tourism cooperation, agreement on visa exemption for diplomatic and official passport holders and programme of cooperation on biotechnology.

The five agreements were signed in the presence of Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee and his Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatara.

Vajpayee, accompanied by a high-powered delegation of officials and businessmen, is the first Indian Premier to visit Thailand in a decade.

Agreement has been reached on a list of products, which would receive tariff free entry on a fast track basis from March 2004. These have been described as Early Harvest Scheme items.

The Agreement also contains a provision regarding emergency measures to protect domestic producers in case of sudden surges in imports. No agreement was reached on the modalities of defining Rules of Origin. It will be negotiated later.

PTI