Thailand and Bhutan have agreed to raise bilateral trade to US$120 million in 2025, with Thailand specifically calling for the support of Thai herbal and traditional medicines.
Speaking yesterday in Phuket following the fourth meeting of the Joint Trade Committee between Thailand and Bhutan, led by Minister of Economic Affairs Lyonpo Loknath Sharma, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit said the meeting discussed six areas of economic and trade cooperation.
These areas included the agreement to boost bilateral trade to $120million in 2025 from $50 million last year, Thailand's request to facilitate the import and support of Thai herbs and traditional medicines to increase the volume of bilateral trade as well as an extension of handicrafts, cultural arts and tourism cooperation between the countries.
According to Mr Jurin, Thailand urged Bhutan to accelerate easing its lockdown measures to facilitate Thai businesses to invest in spas, hotels, restaurants and tourism.
Meanwhile, Mr Jurin said Bhutan called on Thailand to accelerate the import procedures for Bhutan's agricultural products, especially apples, oranges and potatoes.
Mr Sharma also asked Thailand to conduct a preferential trade agreement (PTA), which is similar to a free trade agreement but excludes services.
Bhutan only has one PTA with Bangladesh at present. The governments of the two countries signed the PTA on Dec 6, 2020. The PTA aims to further facilitate and promote bilateral trade between the countries.
Features of the Bangladesh-Bhutan PTA proposals include duty-free access in Bangladesh for 16 additional products from Bhutan, including milk, natural honey, wheat, jams, fruit jellies, marmalades, mineral water and carbonated water. This is in addition to the 18 products already receiving duty-free access in Bangladesh as well as duty-free access in Bhutan for 100 products from Bangladesh, including garments, processed agricultural goods and electronics.
Last year, two-way trade between Thailand and Bhutan reached 2.1 billion baht, up 28.6% from the previous year.
Of the total, exports from Thailand accounted for 2.09 billion baht, with key export products including textiles, garments and electric appliances.
The products imported from Bhutan included coffee, tea and spices, and fruit jelly.