Saturday, June 4 2005 11:04 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

New Delhi: India and Thailand yesterday (Jun 3, 2005) signed an agreement to enhance cooperation in the field of education and research as Prime Minister Manmohan Singh held talks with his visiting Thai counterpart Thaksin Shinawatra on a host of issues of mutual interest.

Human Resource Development Minister Arjun Singh and Thai Foreign Minister Kantathi Suphamongkon signed the Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) in the form of an umbrella arrangement to provide focussed attention to collaboration in the education field between the two countries.

The MoU was signed in the presence of the two Prime Ministers.

More specific exchanges under the programme would take place on the basis of further MoUs to be drawn by institutions in the two countries, an official release said.

The areas of cooperation under the MoU among other things would cover organisation of joint research programmes and publications, exchange of research materials, teaching aids and academics, examining possibility of mutual recognition of educational qualifications and setting up of chairs on contemporary studies.

The MoU also provides for establishment of a Joint Working Group (JWG) to oversee the arrangement and would meet alternately in India and Thailand at least once biennially to review the outcome of the arrangement, the release added.