Jurin in trade talks with New Zealand ahead of APEC summit
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit on Monday laid the groundwork for a key regional trade summit with his New Zealand counterpart Damien OConnor.
New Zealand will host the 2021 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) summit on June 4-5 via videoconference.
“New Zealand’s minister asked Thailand to support three statements to be announced at the summit next month,” said Jurin, who doubles as deputy prime minister.
“The first statement is to announce multilateral trading as a key factor in solving the Covid-19 crisis and supporting the BCG [Bio-Circular-Green] economy. The second is to urge APEC members to remove the limit on exporting Covid-19 vaccine, except in case of shortages in their own countries. The third statement focuses on promoting logistics cooperation among member countries to boost imports and exports of necessary products including medical equipment, vaccines, food and agricultural produce.”
Established in 1989 and featuring 21 countries, the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation is responsible for over 70 per cent of Thailand’s international trade at around THB10 trillion per year.
“New Zealand also asked that Thailand scrap import tax on their onion seeds under the free trade agreement between both countries, which the ministry expects to propose to a Cabinet meeting in July,” said Jurin. “Meanwhile, we have asked New Zealand to import more Covid-19 related products from Thailand such as rubber gloves as well as processed foods and fruits to boost trade volume during the pandemic.”