Thai deputy government spokeswoman Rachada Dhanadirek. (Photo: The Nation)Bangkok (VNA) – Thailand andBangladesh will kick off talks to establish a free trade agreement (FTA) duringtheir 5th Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting next week.
The two countries will begin negotiations toreduce trade barriers at the January 8 – 9 meeting in Bangkok, deputy government spokeswoman RachadaDhanadirek said shortly after the Thai cabinet approved the Ministry of Commerce’s proposal to host the 5th JTCmeeting.
The two countries have alreadyconducted a joint feasibility study on the FTA, Rachada added.
If the two sides are able to seal an FTA, it will greatly benefitThailand's trade and investment because Bangladesh is one of 57 countries thatare members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation (OIC). Bangladesh is Thailand'sthird-largest trade partner in South Asia, behind India and Pakistan.
The Thai cabinet has also approved the Ministryof Commerce’s proposal to sign an FTA with Turkey this year, Rachada said.
Thailand looks to improve FTAs under the ASEAN framework in 2020, aiming toextend tariff cuts to cover more products, particularly sensitive items.
ASEAN has FTAs with Australia, New Zealand, China, India, Japan, the Republic of Korea, and Hong Kong (China).The grouping is in the process of negotiating the Regional ComprehensiveEconomic Partnership (RCEP) with partners.
On a bilateral basis, Thailand has 12FTAs in place, with 17 trading partners.
In the first 10 months of last year, Thailand's trade value withall 17 FTA partners amounted to 241 billion USD, with exports worth 118 billion USD and imports 123 billion USD.
The trading partners that generatedthe highest trade value for Thailand were ASEAN (90.7 billion USD), China (65.2 billion USD), Japan (47.7 billion USD), Australia (12.2 billion USD) and the RoK (11.3 billion USD)./.
VNA
