Ministry seeks national trade panel
The Commerce Ministry will soon ask for Cabinet approval to set up a "National Trade Promotion Committee" in an effort to put export growth higher on the national agenda.
The ministry said it had realised that without such a committee, it could not deal adequately with the many problems related to global trade and get export growth back up to the desired level.
"Thailand needs to have a National Trade Promotion Committee that will integrate work among every government agency and the private sector, so that trade-related problems can be solved and export plans carried out efficiently," Deputy Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said yesterday.
If approved by Cabinet, the panel would be chaired by the prime minister. All relevant government and private organisations including the ministries of Commerce, Labour, Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives, and Finance, the National Economic and Social Development Board, the Bank of Thailand, the Board of Trade, the Federation of Thai Industries, and the Thai National Shippers Council will join it.
Apiradi said the committee would call its first meeting in short order after its establishment to address the country’s top export concerns as well as to find measures and strategies to solve those problems and drive export growth.
Problems that exporters are highly worried about currently include the fluctuating exchange rate, lack of sources of raw materials, and labour shortages in many industries.
Although many agencies have trimmed their export-growth projections for this year, the Commerce Ministry has maintained its target of 4 per cent. Apiradi said the ambitious goal would encourage all agencies and exporters to drive trade expansion.
In addition, in an effort to increase the value of cross-border trade by 30 per cent to Bt1.5 trillion this year, the ministry will form closer ties with neighbouring countries. As part of that effort, Thailand and Laos will this week discuss establishing closer cooperation and increasing the value of two-way trade.
Next week, Apiradi will also lead a group of Thai businesspeople to Sadao checkpoint in the Southern region in a bid to strengthen trade and investment cooperation with Malaysia.
Also next week, on a separate issue, Commerce Minister General Chatchai Sarikulya will meet with modern-trade operators to persuade them to reduce prices in their food courts.
