Illustrative image (Source: bangkokpost)Bangkok (VNA) – The European Union (EU) is ready to resumenegotiations on its free trade agreement (FTA) with Thailand as soon aspossible, senior officials have affirmed.
Director-General of the Department of European Affairs underthe Thai Foreign Ministry Sasiwat Wongsinsawat and the EU's Deputy ManagingDirector for Asia and Pacific Department at the European External ActionService (EEAS) Paola Pampaloni recently co-chaired the 15th Thailand-EU SeniorOfficials' Meeting via video conference.
This year's annual meeting discussed COVID-19 and its impacton the economy, as well as the political developments in Thailand, according toa statement released by the Department of European Affairs, with both partiesalso agreeing to strengthen ties by signing the Partnership and CooperationAgreement by the end of next year.
The EU also confirmed its readiness to resume EU-ThailandFTA talks as soon as possible. Relevant agencies will discuss the details at ameeting of a committee on trade and investment in December.
At the same time, Thailand and the EU voiced a desire forclose and tangible cooperation including in the fight against IllegalUnreported and Unregulated (IUU) fishing via the ASEAN Network on Combating IUUFishing, and by setting up a Thailand-EU Security Dialogue and promoting theprotection of labourers via the Thai-EU Labour dialogue.
Moreover, the EU will discuss a voluntary agreement oncombating illegal wood trading with the Forest Law Enforcement, Governance andTrade.
The EU is Thailand’s fifth largest trade partner, afterASEAN, China, Japan and the US. Two-way trade hit 44.5 billion USD in 2019, ofwhich 23.58 billion USD came from Thailand’s exports. The deal, once takinginto effect, is expected to help raise annual exports and imports by 3.4percent each, and investment by 2.7 percent./.
VNA
