Malaysia And Thailand Strengthen Bilateral Trade Ties

By Minggu Simon Lhasa BANGKOK, June 29 (Bernama) -- Malaysia and Thailand, which aim to boost bilateral trade to US$30 billion by 2018, will set up a working group to look into issues that are a barrier to trade, says Malaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Mustapa Mohamed. Both countries are confident of clinching increased trade, although bilateral trade fell 1.2 per cent to US$24.4 billion last year. Malaysia exported US$12.3 billion worth of goods to Thailand and brought in US$12.1 billion worth of imports. Thailand is Malaysia's fifth largest trading partner but the latter is Thailand's fourth largest trading partner. "Both countries would work to reduce trade barriers," Mustapa said at a joint press conference with Thailand Minister of Commerce General Chatchai Sarikulya at the end of the Second Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting here Sunday. The first JTC between both countries was held in 2005 and the third JTC will be held in Kuala Lumpur next year. It covers a wide scope of trade and investment topics except those involving the financial sector. Malaysia have joint trade committee meeting with 20 countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, India, China and Australia. Meanwhile, Chatchai said the US$30 billion target was achievable and was confident trade between two countries will increase In a move to boost border trade, he said Malaysia, which imports rice from Thailand, would also look at a proposal to bring rice into the country by road. Meanwhile, a joint statement issued after the meeting said Thailand had also agreed to coordinate with relevant authorities to consider Malaysia's proposal to facilitate registration procedures for pharmaceutical products. It would also consider guidelines for pre-packed fresh and minimally processed agricultural produce exported to Malaysia. The statement added that both sides shared a common view that connectivity was one of the key success factors for the establishment of the ASEAN Economic Community. Against this backdrop, Malaysia and Thailand have agreed to accelerate draft memorandum of understandings for the transport of goods and passengers by road and rail between both countries. -- BERNAMA