Iran, Thailand restore trade ties

BANGKOK, October 10 (TNA) - Iran and Thailand have agreed on reviving bilateral economic and trade relations concretely, covering food and energy security of both sides, with two-way trade set to reach 3 billion US dollars by 2021. Thai Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn told journalists of the update on Monday, after the First Iran-Thailand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) Meeting in Bangkok. Apiradi said Thailand can support food security in Iran and can be a gateway for Iran to the growing markets of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as the CLMV group in the ASEAN Community (AC), while Iran can support energy security in Thailand and can be a gateway for Thailand to countries in the land-locked Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS), where there are over 300 million consumers. According to the Thai minister, both sides agreed to conduct a feasibility study on the Preferential Trading Arrangement (PTA), expected to be completed by mid-2017. Besides, Iran is speeding up looking into the Thai rice standard in order to start importing Thai grains as soon as possible, while Thailand targets to export 700,000 tonnes of rice to Iran annually, the same amount before the international sanction against Iran on nuclear issues over the past years. In return, Thailand is ready to import crude oil and natural gas from Iran and wants to invest in energy businesses in Iran, including alternative energy projects. The Thai minister noted that Tehran and Bangkok will restore energy cooperation based on a memorandum of understanding (MOU) signed in 2004 and Thailand will host a joint energy meeting early next year. During the JTC meeting, both sides also agreed to enhance cooperation on the Halal standard and tourism, along with discussing a clear guideline on payment mechanisms to facilitate trade and investment between the two countries. Currently, Iran is Thailand’s ninth largest trading partner in the Middle East and bilateral trade last year stood at 310 million US dollars with Thailand gaining a trade surplus. (TNA)