The area of the CLMVT (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam, Thailand) is being urged to upgrade to become a new global value chain to accommodate the new economy and offset the world's economic uncertainties.
Speaking yesterday at the CLMVT Business Forum held in Mukdahan province, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanavisit said Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam are rich in agricultural raw materials and receive Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) incentives from developed countries. This makes the four countries perfect production bases for the region, including for supplying raw materials for processing in Thailand, he said.
But the region still has limitations on productivity and added value, while facing more stringent trade rules such as consumer safety standards, quality checks, environmental protections and growing pressure from digital technology.
The bloc needs to upgrade the value chain to connect seamlessly at the global level, Mr Jurin said.
He urged the private and public sectors in the five countries to team up and expand trade and investment, particularly through border and transit trade.
Operators in the CLMVT should speed up modernising their production processes and developing the service sector, especially for transport, logistics, retail/wholesale and financial services.
Adul Chotinisakorn, director-general of the Foreign Trade Department, said that given the Sino-US trade row, the region should take the opportunity to upgrade the quality of products and services and connect to the global supply chain network.
According to the Foreign Trade Department's figures, the combined trade value within the CLMVT in the first seven months this year amounted to 806 billion baht, up 1.7% year-on-year.
Of the total, border trade made up 646 billion baht, up 0.5%, and transit trade with three large markets (Singapore, Vietnam and southern China) totalled 160 billion baht, up 6.9% from last year.
Transit trade consists of businesses involved in the passage of goods through more than one country.