EU extends GSP for Thailand for another year

BANGKOK, July 16 (TNA) - Thai exporters will enjoy trade privileges granted by the European Union (EU) for another year, thanks to the 27-member-trade bloc's recent decision on postponing its exclusion of Thai products from its generalized system of preferences or GSP until 2014. Nanthawan Sakuntanak, Director-General of the Thai Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion, explained on Monday as Thailand's per capita income has now risen to the benchmark-level of middle-income countries, the EU, thus, has considered excluding Thai products from its GSP list. At the latest development, Nanthawan told reporters, officials in Brussels have reported that the EU has decided to postpone the exclusion from 2013 to 2014, which will give more time for Thai business operators to adjust themselves. The senior official recommended that Thai business operators further upgrade quality of their products, diversify them, stop cutting prices against each other and find new markets, including China, Japan, as well as other Asian countries and those in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), Africa and Latin America. (TNA)