With the arrival of disruptive technology, negotiators say trade talks will no longer centre on only tariff and non-tariff measures, social issues, labour, human rights and geopolitics, but also strategic partnerships in the services sector, intellectual property, value-added goods, technology transfers and human resource development.
Pimchanok Vonkorpon, director-general of the Trade Policy and Strategy Office, said in keeping with the Thailand 4.0 policy, trade negotiations need to focus more on value creation and the 10 S-curve industries such as robotics, aviation and digital.
"For instance, under the Thai-European free trade area negotiations or bilateral trade talks with the UK, the focus should be more on technology and innovative collaborations," she said. "We can no longer look only at tariff cuts."
Ms Pimchanok said strategic partnerships are crucial to collaborating with neighbouring countries such as Cambodia, Laos, Malaysia, Vietnam and other Asean countries.
"Inclusive negotiations should address the issue of reducing inequality and income disparity as well as the changing competitive environment, as the disruptive technology brings about a number of small smart players, big data, growing cross-border data flows and cross border e-commerce," she said.
The Commerce Ministry reported digital platforms have a more important role in global trade, while cross-border data transfers will become an important trade policy point for each country.
Meanwhile, the Trade Policy and Strategy Office yesterday unveiled the Import Potential Index (IPI), Thailand's first-ever new index that evaluates the potential import demand of 168 importing countries.
The IPI will be based largely on trade statistics, macroeconomics and other risk factors which reflect the import capability of those states, ranking them from 1-168.
The biannual index will compare import values of those countries and potential demand to evaluate the market opportunities so that the country can further drive export growth.
Ms Pimchanok said the index has found 24 countries with very high import potential such as China, the US, Hong Kong, Singapore, and Japan.
Thailand should try its best to maintain these export markets, she said. Potential products include automobiles, electronics, agricultural products, food and jewellery.
There are 96 countries boasting export potential, but Thailand has yet to completely tap Malaysia, Indonesia, the Philippines and Australia.
Ms Pimchanok said data available from the index will be used as supplementary information for Thailand's FTAs and strategic partnership negotiations.
The information will be presented to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak and the commerce minister this week.