THURSDAY, March 28, 2024
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Thailand targeting more FTAs next year

Thailand targeting more FTAs next year

Thailand is speeding up talks in order to reach free trade agreements (FTAs) with several territories next year, the Trade Negotiations Department said on Friday.

The department will push hard to complete separate FTAs with Turkey, Sri Lanka and Pakistan, said its director general Auramon Supthaweethum.

It will also press for revision of Asean free trade agreements with China, with India, with South Korea and with Australia-New Zealand, to open their markets to a wider range of Thai goods.

Meanwhile the department is planning to initiate FTA talks with other key economies, including the UK. A study of impacts of a Thailand-UK FTA is expected to be finished early next year.

A completed study on impacts of a Thailand-European Union FTA will be put to the Cabinet in December, Auramon added.

The EU has already signed free trade deals with Singapore and Vietnam and is in talks for a deal with Indonesia. It has suspended talks with Thailand, Malaysia and the Philippines. Talks with Thailand began in 2013 but were suspended in 2014 following the military coup.

Thailand has so far signed 13 FTAs with 18 countries – Asean partners, China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, Chile and Peru.

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