Bangkok  - Embattled Thai Prime Minister Somchai Wongsawat was scheduled to depart Bangkok for India Wednesday to attend a summit of the Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC), foreign ministry sources confirmed.

Somchai was scheduled to leave Bangkok at 7:50 pm (1250 GMT) on a special Thai Airways International flight to the Indian capital New Delhi, where he will attend the second BIMSTEC summit Thursday and Friday.

"This summit will provide a good opportunity to review past cooperation and progress on a free trade agreement," said Foreign Ministry spokesman Thani Thingphakdi.

The first BIMSTEC Summit was held in Bangkok on July 31, 2004.

On Thursday morning Somchai is to meet his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh at the Taj Palace Hotel, afterwards he is scheduled to attend the BIMSTEC meeting.

BIMSTEC, comprising Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand, was a Thai initiative strongly backed by former Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra, Somchai's brother-in-law.

Plans to hold the summit earlier this year in New Delhi had to be postponed, apparently because of political instability in Thailand.

Somchai is Thailand's second prime minister this year. His predecessor, Samak Sundaravej, was sacked after a Constitution Court ruling on September 9 found him guilty of moonlighting on his premiership as a TV cooking show host.

Both Samak and Somchai have been targeted by protests by the People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), a loose coalition of groups fanatically opposed to the return to power of Thaksin, a former billionaire telecommunications tycoon who dominated Thai politics between 2001 to 2006.

Although toppled by a military coup on September 19, 2006, and last month sentenced in absentia to two years in jail on abuse of power charges, Thaksin remains a powerful player in Thai politics.

The ruling People Power Party (PPP), which leads to current government, came to power after the December 2007 general election on a pro-Thaksin platform.

Thaksin, who has been living in self-exile since August 11, remains popular among Thailand's rural masses because of the populist policies he implemented during his two terms as premier that benefited the poor and secured their votes.

He is still a major financier and decision-maker behind the PPP, PPP sources admit.

It is unclear where Thaksin is at present. He was last reported to be visiting China.

Last week the British government revoked the tourist visas granted Thaksin and his wife Pojaman, blocking them from returning to London, where they had been residing since August 11. (dpa)