The Prime Minister of Thailand, Pol Lt Col Thaksin Shinawatra, visited ISRO Satellite Centre, Bangalore this morning (November 26, 2001). He was accompanied by a high-level delegation including Mr Somkid Jatusripitak, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Finance, Senior Ministers of his Cabinet, Trade Representatives, Ambassador of Thailand to India and other officials.

Dr K Kasturirangan, Chairman, Indian Space Research Organisation (ISRO), briefed the Prime Minister about the Indian space programme. He specifically highlighted the salient features of the Indian space systems like INSAT, Indian Remote Sensing Satellite (IRS) and the Indian launch vehicles, PSLV and GSLV. He also gave an overview of the various applications to which the space systems have been put to use in India especially in the fields of telecommunication, broadcasting, developmental education, natural resources monitoring, meteorology and disaster warning. He also indicated that Thailand is one of the countries which is receiving the data from Indian Remote Sensing (IRS) satellites. He said that ISRO has leased a few transponders on Thailand's THAICOM satellite to augment the INSAT capacity.

The Prime Minister of Thailand evinced keen interest on the Indian Space programme and expressed his appreciation for India's achievements in this field. He said that the Asian countries, coming together, could achieve even greater heights.