India, Thailand discuss enhancing collaboration on combating online scams
Bangkok, Aug 10
India's Ambassador to Thailand Puneet Agrawal on Monday held a meeting with Thailand's Minister of Digital Economy and Society Chaichanok Chidchob on enhancing collaboration, combatting online scams and integrating digital ecosystems to facilitate tourists.
"Ambassador Puneet Agrawal paid a courtesy call on H.E. Mr. Chaichanok Chidchob, Minister of Digital Economy and Society of Thailand, today," the Indian Embassy in Thailand wrote on X.
"Views were exchanged on enhancing collaboration under the existing bilateral agreement on digital technologies, experience sharing on combating online scams, integrating digital ecosystems to facilitate tourists, among others," it added.
Last month, Ambassador Agrawal and Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Transport Phipat Ratchakitprakarn met and discussed ways to strengthen strategic partnership through enhanced maritime, air, and road connectivity, deepening people-to-people ties and tourism linkages.
India and Thailand elevated the bilateral ties to Strategic Partnership during Prime Minister Narendra Modi's visit to Bangkok in April last year.
On July 16, Agrawal met Urasa Mongkolnavin, Director-General (DG) of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs at Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs and held discussions on issues of mutual interest to strengthen the strategic partnership between both nations.
"Ambassador Puneet Agrawal met Mrs. Urasa Mongkolnavin, DG of the Department of South Asian, Middle East and African Affairs, Thailand's Ministry of Foreign Affairs. Both sides exchanged views on various issues of mutual interest such as high-level visits, trade and investment, people-to-people connect, public health and traditional medicine, etc to further strengthen the Strategic Partnership between India and Thailand."
Agrawal also met Thailand Trade Representative Chutintorn Gongsakdi at the Government House, with discussions focused on further strengthening trade and investment ties.
"Ambassador Puneet Agrawal had a cordial and fruitful meeting with H.E Mr. Chutintorn Gongsakdi, Thailand Trade Representative, at the Government House. Discussions focused on further strengthening trade and investment ties between India and Thailand through identifying areas of complementarities, resolving tariff and non-tariff barriers and having a balanced trade for mutual benefit," the Indian Embassy in Thailand wrote on X.
— IANS
Reader Comments
Digital integration for tourists is a smart move. Indians travel to Thailand in huge numbers and it would make things smoother if we have a unified payment system or something similar. But the scam angle is even more critical - my cousin got scammed on a fake travel portal once. Never trusting random sites again.
High time we strengthened ties with Thailand. Both countries have huge potential for trade and tourism. Online scams are a growing menace, and working together with ASEAN nations makes sense. Hope this translates into real action rather than just diplomatic talks.
The strategic partnership with Thailand is important, but I wish the government would focus equally on domestic digital literacy. Many senior citizens in India still don't know how to identify phishing emails or fake UPI requests. Collaboration is good, but let's not forget grassroots awareness. 🙏
Good to see this kind of cooperation between India and Thailand. Online scams are a global issue, not just regional. The more countries share data and experiences, the better equipped we all are. Hope the US and other nations also join such collaborative frameworks.
Scams are big business these days, especially with deepfakes and AI tools. Good that both countries are talking. But I also hope they address the call centre scams in Myanmar/Cambodia which often involve Thai networks. We need tougher enforcement, not just talk. Sometimes the bureaucracy takes too long.
Thailand remains a favourite holiday destination for Indians, so integrating digital ecosystems is a practical win. However, I hope they also think about data privacy compliance. The more integrated, the more data flows, and we need strict safeguards.
We welcome thoughtful discussions from our readers. Please keep comments respectful and on-topic.