Thailand to expand border trade, investment with CLMV

BANGKOK, September 14 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Commerce, promotes expanding border trade and investment between Thailand and neighboring Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as the CLMV group. Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn told journalists that she has assigned her ministry's Department of Foreign Trade to encourage local business operators, especially those running businesses along the border, to expand their trade and investment across the border to the CLMV group. The minister reasoned that the Thai border entrepreneurs have already run their businesses and if they further expand their trade and investment across the border to the neighboring countries, the move will, thus, help stimulate the national economy from the grassroots level. Meanwhile, Department of Foreign Trade Deputy Director-General Adul Chotinisakorn said his department has launched the YEN-D Program, under which young Thai entrepreneurs are supported to create their business networks with their counterparts in the CLMV group, resulting in a matching of 800 Thai and CLMV business operators with their combined trade value likely to keep rising from about three billion baht so far. According to the senior official, his department plans to launch the YEN-D Frontier Scheme, as part of the YEN-D Program, to support expanding cross border trade and investment between Thai border business operators and their counterparts in the CMLV group and Malaysia through small workshops to promote their business matching and networking through familiarity with each other. (TNA)