Thailand and Myanmar aim to double the value of trade between the two countries in the next five years, Thailand’s minister of commerce has said.
Speaking during a visit Myanmar, Apiradi Tantraporn said Myanmar was a priority trade partner for Thailand.
She was accompanying Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak early this month on his visit to Myanmar since Aung San Suu Kyi’s civilian government took power last year.
Trade with Myanmar’s eastern neighbour is worth hundreds of millions of dollars annually, with Thailand making up around 12 percent of Myanmar’s border trade.
And with the vast majority of trade between the neighbours happening over the border, Apiradi Tantraporn said overland routes were a key focus for cooperation.
A border trade centre serving Myawaddy in Karen state and Mae Sot just across the frontier would be finished by the end of March, she said.
Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak discussed the expansion of Thai-Myanmar land routes with President U Htin Kyaw in Nay Pyi Taw during the trip.
The Deputy PM said the US’s decision to remove itself from the Trans-Pacific Partnership, a massive free trade agreement that is now all but dead after US president Trump withdrew, meant Asia has “now become the most important region.”
He called for cooperation among Thailand and its neighbours to push for an alternative trade pact that focuses more heavily on Asia, and unlike the TPP would include China.
The success of the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership depended on Thailand and others cooperating with Cambodia, Laos Myanmar and Vietnam, he said.
“Now is the time when superpowers are facing challenges,” he added. “If we are united, we will be able to address the challenges and compete with other countries. As the United States recently left the Trans-Pacific Partnership, I believe Asia has now become the most important region.”
Thailand and Myanmar signed 16 Memorandums of Understating during the visit, with agreements focusing on the digital sector, infrastructure and small and medium sized enterprises.
Source: Myanmar Business Today
