Agency eyes 6 products, services for 'Best in Asean' promotion
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THE INTERNATIONAL Trade Promotion Department will select six products and services to be promoted as "The Best of Asean" as part of its policy to boost trade with other countries in this region.
The department is studying selected items in the food and beverages, kitchenware, agricultural equipment, fashion and lifestyle goods, sportswear, and fresh fruit segments.
Services under study are healthcare clinics, spas, construction companies, restaurants, coffee shops, event organisers, films, Thai soap operas and Thai boxing schools.
The Commerce Ministry is set to shut down three overseas offices to cut operating costs, while planning to employ representatives in target markets to promote exports.
A senior official said the department had asked Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya to consider the restructuring of trade offices in some countries to increase efficiency.
One of the offices to be closed will be in Italy, either in Rome or in Milan, as that country needs only one office to take care of trade promotions. The one in Budapest will be shut because Hungary has low purchasing power and few trade activities, as will the one in Accra, Ghana, as the department has an office in Nigeria to oversee West Africa trade.
Slimming its overseas office network would reduce the fiscal burden on the department, while the savings could be spent on supporting offices overseas to carry out other trade-promotion activities, the source said.
The department has also proposed moving some overseas trade offices to areas with higher economic potential, such as Xian to Qingdao, which has the fourth-largest deep-sea port in China. Qingdao has become one of that country’s economic drivers, as it is a gateway to western and central provinces. It is also a centre for rubber trading.
In Nigeria, the department wants to move the office in Abuja to Lagos, as more than 90 per cent of Nigerian importers are in the latter city. Lagos is also a centre for trading and financial transactions, as well as international trade.
That would leave the department with nine trade offices in China and five in Africa.
The department is planning to employ local officers to help promote trade and service businesses in each targeted market, as local staff have a better understanding of local demand and have more flexibility.
The employment of local staff would also cut the cost of running an office by about one-fourth.
The targeted countries for local representatives are Algeria, Kazakhstan and Peru, where people have relatively high incomes.
In Algeria, people have increasing purchasing power as they are getting rich from oil trading. Income per capita is beyond US$5,886 (Bt191,000) per year. The market has high demand for consumer goods, halal food and auto parts.
Kazakhstan also has high purchasing power with income per capita of $12,950 per year, while Peru has a free-trade agreement with Thailand and can serve as a gateway to other Latin America countries.
