NZ PM to lead trade visit to Kingdom
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New Zealand Prime Minister John Key will lead a group of businesspeople to visit Thailand next month in a bid to strengthen trade and investment ties.
After meeting recently with Tony Lynch, New Zealand’s ambassador to Thailand, Commerce Minister Niwatthumrong Boonsongpaisan said the two countries should have closer ties in many sectors as their leaders had regularly visited both nations.
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra went to New Zealand early this year.
Key’s official visit is scheduled for November 18-19.
Niwatthumrong, who is also a deputy prime minister, said the two sides would take this opportunity to deepen discussions on doubling bilateral trade to US$3.2 billion within five years.
According to Commerce Ministry data, trade between the two countries was valued at $1.63 billion last year.
Thai shipments to New Zealand were worth $1.02 billion, and imports $603 million. In the first eight months of 2013, two-way trade was valued at nearly $1.16 billion (Bt36 billion), up 9.09 per cent year on year.
Thai exports to New Zealand were worth $779 million, and imports $378 million.
Thailand will ask New Zealand to help eliminate barriers under their free-trade agreement, calling for cancellation of anti-dumping duties on plastic board and concrete steel exported from Thailand. For its part, New Zealand has expressed concern over excise tax on wine import.
Those concerns will be discussed further during the fifth Joint Trade Commission, which will be held in Bangkok late this month.
