Thailand is hoping a direct free trade agreement (FTA) with Europe and an ASEAN deal with Canada will help boost its exports.
The country’s Commerce Ministry plans to submit negotiating frameworks for the two agreements to cabinet for approval.
Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the negotiating framework for the Thailand-EU Free Trade Agreement would be presented to the cabinet by the end of July.
“The government has been doing its best to speed up negotiations on a free trade agreement, especially an agreement with the European Union to boost exports, which is the only engine for the country’s economic growth this year,” Jurin said.
The 27-nation EU is Thailand’s fifth largest trading partner after ASEAN, China, Japan and the United States. Bilateral trade totalled just over $33 billion last year, accounting for 7.56 percent of Thailand’s global trade.
Exports to the EU totalled $ 17.6 billion last year, with top commodities including computers, gems and jewellery, rubber products, air conditioners, motorcycle components and parts for electrical equipment.
Duangarthit Nidhi-u-tai, Deputy Director General of the General Department of Trade Negotiations, attended last month’s virtual ASEAN Senior Economic Officials meeting, during which delegates discussed the framework plan for the ASEAN-Canada free trade negotiations.
Thailand says the meeting made significant progress as participants agreed that a solution needed to be found ahead of the ASEAN-Canada Economic Ministers’ Meeting scheduled for September. The ASEAN-Canada Free Trade Agreement is scheduled to be submitted in August.
An official at the Canadian embassy office in Phnom Penh told Khmer Times that a recent meeting with Cambodian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation officials on the Kingdom’s upcoming term as ASEAN chair included an expression of hope that Cambodia would support a Canada ASEAN FTA. The source also cited that in its role as current ASEAN chair, Brunei hopes the launch of an FTA with Canada will be one of its deliverables this year.
Bilateral trade between Thailand and Canada totalled $2.31 billion last year, up 0.53 percent. Exports from Thailand amounted to $1.54 billion, up 0.67 percent, while imports from Canada totalled $767 million.
The Kingdom’s exports to Canada reached nearly $1.2 billion in 2020. Canadian exports to Cambodia were roughly $58 million in 2019, a ten-fold increase from 2014.
Canada could stand to increase its manufacturing imports from ASEAN by more than $3 billion if an FTA was signed, resulting mostly from increases in apparel, leather, transport equipment and electronics, according to Canada’s Ambassador to ASEAN Diedrah Kelly. In 2020, trade between Canada and ASEAN members reached $21.26 billion.
Source: Khmer Times
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<p>Time: November 2025<br /> By: WTO and International Trade Group, Legal Department – VCCI</p>
