Commerce Ministry to boost border trade

BANGKOK, March 19 (TNA) - Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn has ordered ministry officials to accelerate on boosting trade with Thailand’s neighbouring countries with an aim to achieve cross-border trade value at 1.8 trillion baht in 2017. Besides boosting trade at permanent border checkpoints, she said the ministry also aimed at supporting trade at temporarily checkpoints and natural channel entrances to generate income for local people. Provincial commerce ministry officials were instructed to cooperate with the private sector in strengthening relations with neighbouring countries. In another related development, provincial commerce ministry official in the northeastern province of Bungkan said businessmen from Laos, Vietnam and Thailand held a meeting on March 8 in the province in which 26 memoranda of cooperation covering 12 types of business were signed. The total value of the businesses is over 150 million baht, he added. (TNA)