Thailand, Vietnam set $20-bn trade goal
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THAILAND and Vietnam have agreed to boost their trade to US$20 billion in five years, while Vietnam will be encouraged to join Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia in promoting sustainable development of their rubber industries.
“To achieve this growth, we [Thailand and Vietnam] will do many things to promote economic cooperation in various industries,” Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya said after the second Joint Trade Committee meeting in Bangkok yesterday.
The two countries affirmed their success in tightening ties in various areas including agriculture, transportation and connectivity, trade and investment, labour, intellectual property rights, banking and finance, trade exhibitions, aviation and energy development.
Vu Huy Hoang, Vietnam’s industry and trade minister, said Thailand and Vietnam have a golden opportunity to cooperate closely in many areas to promote development between each country under the Asean Economic Community.
Vietnam is Thailand’s fourth-largest trading partner among the 10 countries of Asean, and the 11th biggest in the world. Last year, two-way trade grew 13.1 per cent to $11.82 billion, of which $7.88 billion were Thailand’s exports to Vietnam and $3.93 billion were imports from Vietnam.
In the first five months of this year, bilateral trade rose 15 per cent year on year to $5.1 billion.
Thailand has proposed to Vietnam to join the tripartite committee on rubber cooperation to ensure balanced supply and demand, which will stabilise rubber prices in the world market. The coordination will broaden to rice, as Thailand and Vietnam are among the world’s major rice producers and suppliers.
Thailand has also asked for Vietnam to relax its stringent import rules for four types of Thai fruits, as its regulations have obstructed Thai fruit exports to Vietnam for many years.
Other initiatives under the Joint Trade Committee are increasing trade facilitation in transportation and logistics, cooperating in setting up commercial banks in each country, increasing the use of local currencies between the two countries and promoting investment in Thailand’s special economic zones.
