Thai government to sell more rice to China

BANGKOK, July 26 (TNA) - The government, through the Ministry of Commerce, has shipped the first lot of one million tonnes of Thai rice to China under a government-to-government (G-to-G) agreement and it is negotiating to export additional two million tonnes of Thai grains to the immense Chinese market. Duangporn Rodphaya, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Foreign Trade, told journalists of the information on Tuesday, saying that her department will start negotiation with Beijing in details on the latter's import of another one million tonnes of Thai rice next month. Besides, her department is working with the Chinese government to set the date, agreed by both sides, for talks on selling another one million tonnesof Thai rice to China. Duangporn explained that the last lot of Thai rice her department plans to sell to the Chinese government is linked with the Ministry of Transport's planned negotiation with Beijing on Thailand's purchase of trains from China. According to the senior official, a certain timeframe has been set for both sides' negotiation on the last lot of Thai rice and it is now on an arrangement process as schedule without any delay and national damage. The senior official stressed that a ban on Chinese tourists from driving into the Thai North through a checkpoint in Chiang Rai Province is unlikely to affect bilateral relations in trade, investment and tourism between Thailand and China. (TNA)