The US ambassador to Thailand has urged the Thai government to improve "outdated'' customs regulations to create a better investment climate in the country.
"In general, I think American businesses like to invest in Thailand and see it as a good place to invest,'' said Eric John, who met Thai Commerce Minister Pornthiva Nakasai on Wednesday.
"I think the one consistent issue that emerges is trying to update customs regulations in Thailand. The customs laws that are in use in Thailand are 80 years old right now. We feel that it's time to update those to bring them up to world standards like the rest of the Thai economy. The Thai economy is a world-standard economy so you want a customs regime that matches that.''
The US ambassador to Thailand also urged the Thai government to continue tackling intellectual property rights issues.
"The US government wants to work with the Thai government on intellectual property rights issues, but we see this as something the current Thai government is taking very seriously. And they are off to a very good start,'' said Mr John.
According to Mrs Pornthiva, the government is committed to protecting intellectual property rights and seizing counterfeit products.
With this commitment, the Thai government fully expects the United States government to improve Thailand's status from "priority watch list'' (PWL) to "watch list'' (WL), she said.
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- Writer: Bangkokpost.com
