Thailand and Kenya have agreed to set up a joint trade and investment committee, with Thailand expecting to boost rice exports and investment in fisheries on the Kenyan coast.
According to commerce permanent secretary Chutima Bunyapraphasara, who led a delegation to Kenya and Mozambique last week, Thai officials encouraged their Kenyan counterparts to buy more rice and allow Thai investment in fisheries.
Thai companies have also shown an interest in importing frozen seafood such as lobster, fish and crab from Kenya.
Kenyan authorities, meanwhile, have urged Thailand to import more raw materials in which the African country is rich, such as soda ash, gems, zinc, diamonds, gypsum, coffee and tea.
Ms Chutima said Kenya is also seeking more cooperation on agriculture, tourism and infrastructure development from Thailand.
"We hope the joint trade and investment committee will function as a new mechanism to raise cooperation on trade and investment, particularly in those areas in which the two countries share mutual interests," she said.
Trade between Thailand and Kenya amounted to US$182 million last year, down by 16% from a year earlier. Exports from Thailand accounted for $157 million, down by 21.6%.
For the first five months of this year, trade with Kenya totalled $65.2 million, down 11% from the same period last year. Shipments from Thailand accounted for $59.9 million, down 7.4% year-on-year.
Kenya bought 22,200 tonnes of Thai rice in 2015, with the purchase figures in the first five months of this year surging 209% year-on-year to 21,000 tonnes.
According to Ms Chutima, the Thai delegation also paid a courtesy call on Mozambique's prime minister, Carlos Agostinho do Rosario, and discussed the possibility of shipping more Thai rice and expanding mutual investments.
Thailand's exports to Mozambique totalled $180 million last year, down 9.5% from a year earlier, while imports were worth $10.3 million, up 86.8% from a year before.
For the first five months of 2016, exports to Mozambique totalled $50.8 million, down 33.7% from the same period last year, with imports for the period up 45.3% to $6.1 million.
Mozambique last year bought 315,000 tonnes of Thai rice, with the tally for the first five months totalling 102,800 tonnes, down 15% from the same period last year.