Department of International Trade Negotiations unveils its 65th year work plan, aiming to open new FTA negotiations with 3 countries “EU-EFTA-EAEU”, expedite the outstanding FTA with Turkey, Pakistan and Sri Lanka, and move forward to negotiate the ASEAN-Canada framework. Ready to organize a JTC meeting and attend meetings with 12 countries to solve trade barriers increase economic cooperation
Mrs. Oramon Sapthaweetham Director-General of the Department of International Trade Negotiations Opened a plan to work on international trade negotiations in 2022 that the DIP aims to open a new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) negotiation under the policy of Mr. Jurin Laksanawisit, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs. Ministry of Commerce to use FTA to accelerate trade expansion for Thailand It is accelerating discussions to create a common understanding of the expectations of the negotiations with the negotiators. and expedite the process within the country To create a framework for negotiations to propose policy levels, including opening FTA negotiations with the European Union The European Free Trade Association (EFTA), which comprises Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. and the Eurasian Economic Union (EAEU), which consists of Russia, Belarus, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan. Most of which will be an FTA with a group of countries.
For the pending FTAs, such as the Thai-Turkey FTA, Thailand-Pakistan, Thailand-Sri Lanka, the goal is to discuss with the negotiating partners and expedite the conclusion of the negotiations as soon as possible. including accelerating the ASEAN-Canada FTA negotiations that had just agreed to open negotiations in mid-November 2021 Must expedite the preparation of negotiation plans and the issues that will be in the negotiations. for the negotiations to proceed
Ms. Oramon said that the Department will also focus on meetings of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) with key trading partners. to solve trade barriers and intensifying cooperation in economic and trade Thailand will host the JTC meetings with at least 10 trading partners in 2022, such as Indonesia, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, South Korea, Russia, Ukraine, the United Kingdom, Bhutan and the Maldives, and join the JTC meetings hosted by trading partners such as China, Bangladesh, etc.
“The JTC meeting will be a good opportunity for Thailand’s policy level and trading partners to discuss economic cooperation. investment trade increase trade facilitation and solve trade barriers between them.”
Currently, Thailand has 14 FTAs with 18 countries. RCEP is Thailand’s latest FTA. During the 9 months of 2021 (Jan.-Sept.), Thailand had trade value with 18 FTA counterparts, namely ASEAN. Australia, New Zealand, China, Japan, South Korea, Chile, Peru, India and Hong Kong totaled US$ 253.212.2 million, an increase of 25.2%, accounting for 63.6% of Thailand’s total trade. Thailand exported to 18 pairs of FTA countries worth USD 123,693.9 million, an increase of 18.2%, and Thailand imported from pairs of FTAs worth USD 129,518.3 million, an increase of 32.8%.
.
