Malaysia agrees to reopen two Narathiwat checkpoints
Malaysian authorities on Monday accepted Thailand’s proposal to reopen Narathiwat’s Tak Bai and Buke Ta border checkpoints, which had been closed to curb the spread of Covid-19.
“We expect the reopening of the two checkpoints to help generate at least 600 million baht in trade revenue,” said Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit.
The minister added that Thailand shares 97 border checkpoints with neighbouring countries, and 46 of them have resumed cross-border activities thanks to an improvement in the Covid-19 situation.
“All nine checkpoints in the four deep South provinces will be in operation once Tak Bai and Buke Ta reopen,” Jurin added.
“In the first nine months of this year, cross-border trade stood at 1.27 trillion baht, a 31.67 per cent increase from the same period in 2020,” the minister said. “Exports contributed 778.36 billion, marking a 38.06 per cent increase year on year, while imports were worth 497.17 billion, expanding 22.78 per cent year on year.”
The Commerce Ministry said Malaysia is Thailand’s No 1 cross-border trade partner, with total trade volume in the first nine months of 2021 recorded at 239 billion baht, up 36.47 per cent year on year and is responsible for 35.73 per cent of all cross border trade volume.
Jurin added that the government was also working with Cambodian authorities to open more border checkpoints, including Tha Sen in Trat and Nong Ian in Sa Kaew provinces.
