EU AND THAILAND REOPEN NEGOTIATIONS

Proof of agreement. Thailand reopens dialogue with the European Union, with the aim of concluding a Free Trade Agreement that has been under discussion for years and suspended more than seven years ago. The first step was on 17 June, in a conversation between the EU Ambassador to Thailand and the Thai Minister of Commerce.

Negotiations for the conclusion of an EU-Thailand free trade agreement were launched in March 2013 but suspended the following year due to political unrest; now it seems that the will of the parties is to resume talks interrupted seven years ago. The EU is Thailand’s fifth largest trading partner after ASEAN, China, Japan, and the US. In 2020, the trade value of goods traded between the two economies was $ 33.1 billion, or 7.56% of Thailand’s global trade. Thai exports to the European Union amounted to $ 17.6 billion; computers, gems and jewels, rubber products, air conditioners, vehicle equipment and components, printed circuits, industrial machinery, motorcycles and spare parts, household appliances and optical lenses are the main products arrived in the EU. Thai imports from the EU amounted to $ 15.4 billion and involved chemicals, medical and pharmaceutical products, electrical components, automotive components, scientific instruments and aircraft. During the first four months of 2021, trade between the two countries grew by 10.95% compared to the same period of the previous year.