12th ACFTA-JC and Related Meeting held in Bangkok May 20-22

BANGKOK, May 21 (TNA) - Thailand hosts the 12th ASEAN-China Free Trade Agreement Joint Committee (ACFTA JC) and Related Meeting in Bangkok during May 20-22, with the planned expansion of the ACFTA being on top of the agenda. Auramon Supthaweethum, Director-General of the Department of Trade Negotiations, under the Thai Ministry of Commerce, told journalists that delegations from China and member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) are discussing on adding about 10 per cent of products on the tariff cut or elimination list under the ACFTA during the ongoing three-day regional gathering in the capital. Auramon stated that talks by the participants on such pending issues as the enforcement of the ACFTA Upgrading Protocol and the Revised Profit Sharing Ratio (Revised PSR), targeted by July 1, 2019, as well as probing and certifying processes of regional sanitary and phytosanitary measures and other Sino-ASEAN cooperation on economic and technical issues are also included on the agenda. The senior official said that playing the roles of the ASEAN Chairmanship in 2019 and the coordinator on the planned expansion of the ACFTA, Thailand sees it important to support the quick materialization or the implementation of all issues on the agenda. According to the senior Thai official, China is now the number one trading partner of ASEAN, with China gaining a trade surplus of about 68 billion US dollars with ASEAN in 2017, when the two-way trade reached about 441 billion US dollars. (TNA)