Strengthening Confidence | Saigon Liberation Newspaper

Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is on his first trip to Europe (including Germany and France) with a packed agenda aimed at bolstering European investors' confidence in increasing trade and investment in Thailand, advancing efforts to sign a Thailand-EU Free Trade Agreement (FTA), and pursuing negotiations on visa-free travel for Thai citizens.

Thai government spokesperson Chai Wacharonke said that during his first trip to Europe, Prime Minister Srettha is expected to discuss sustainable economic development, clean energy, and addressing environmental challenges with German and French authorities, while emphasizing the importance of strengthening relations with Germany and France to make them strategic partners of Thailand.

During his week-long visit (March 7-14), Prime Minister Srettha will also meet with business leaders in the aviation, automotive, auto parts, tourism, fashion , and retail sectors. He will also attend the world's largest travel trade fair, ITB Berlin 2024, in Germany and the MIPIM 2024 Global Conference on Infrastructure and Real Estate in Cannes, France, and deliver a speech at the annual reception of the German Association of Small and Medium Enterprises. Thailand hopes to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the EU next year, with the third round of negotiations scheduled for June this year.

According to data from the Trade Negotiations Division of the Thai Ministry of Commerce, the EU is Thailand's fourth-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade reaching US$34.8 billion in the first 10 months of 2023. The two sides first launched negotiations on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2013, but the process stalled after the 2014 coup in Thailand.

In 2017 and 2019, the European Council adopted a gradual re-engagement approach, culminating in the signing of the Partnership and Cooperation Agreement in December 2022. Regarding trade, the 2017 and 2019 European Council conclusions called on the European Commission to assess the feasibility of resuming FTA negotiations with Thailand and stressed the importance of taking steps in that direction.

VIET LE

Source: https://www.sggp.org.vn/cung-co-niem-tin-post730186.html