PM to focus on trade pacts at Apec meet

To make up for Thailand’s absence from the Trans-Pacific Partnership (TPP), he will also push for other bilateral FTAs between Asean and Apec member states to ensure the growth of Thailand and Asean.

The 23rd Apec summit will take place on November 18-19 in Manila.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said Prayut and other Apec leaders will push for the finalisation of FTAAP negotiations that began in 2007 to ensure trade and economic growth in the region, which will combine more than half of the global gross domestic product and larger than the TPP.

 

Discussed many issues

The 21 Apec economies have already discussed many issues such as trade in goods, services and investment, which will be combined in many free-trade agreements between Asean and other trading partners.

Last month, 12 countries in the Asia Pacific region, including the United States and four Asean countries, signed the TPP, which ranks as the biggest trade agreement in history. Signatory countries account for 40 per cent of total global output. Thailand has not yet been included in the pact.

During the Manila summit, Apec members will also study the impact and benefits of other FTAs as a pattern for the future FTAAP, the framework of which should be wrapped up next year. 

When implemented, it will ensure that the FTAAP becomes the world’s largest trading bloc, said the minister. To move ahead with the FTAAP, Thailand needs to develop its industrial sector, and amend and adjust laws and regulations for market liberalisation among APEC countries, Apiradi said.

 

Access trade information

During the summit, Thailand will encourage leaders to discuss plans to support the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) among Apec members in the Asia-Pacific region and the world market. The government foresees SMEs as one of the key economic drivers for the economies of many countries. 

Under this plan, Apec SMEs will be given more opportunities to access trade information, sources of funds, technology and support to e-commerce trading. 

Thailand’s suggestion will be proposed under the Philippines’ agenda on support (the Apec Implementation Plan for Boracay Action Agenda to Globalise MSMEs: Medium Small and Micro Enterprises).

Thailand will also volunteer to conduct a study on supporting SMEs in the agriculture sector to reach the global supply chain. 

Primarily, it found that SMEs in Apec countries still lack the knowledge to navigate trade barriers of trading partners, and they also face problems in accessing sources of funding. Thailand will propose to the Apec leaders that a workshop be organised next year to train the employees of SMEs in the agricultural sector and create links between SMEs in the agriculture industry among Apec member states.

During the summit, the Philippines will also support cooperation in the service sector under the Apec Service Cooperation Framework in order to reduce barriers and obstructions affecting trade in services. It will also promote more investment in the service sector.