Thailand improves regional services to serve growing foreign trade

BANGKOK, April 16 (TNA) - The Department of Foreign Trade, under the Thai Ministry of Commerce, is improving its services at 10 regional offices in the country to serve foreign trade growth, thanks to border trade expansion and free trade within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The department's director-general, Surasak Riangkrua, told journalists on Wednesday that the number of applications for export and import licenses and certificates remains doubling annually due to the growth of border trade, which exceeded 950 billion baht last year. Surasak said that he expects more applications when the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is formed by 2015, when the grouping will create a single market with a combined population of about 650 million. To serve the foreign trade growth, Surasak acknowledged that he has ordered 10 regional offices under his department's supervision to streamline their work, introduce one-stop services and improve their local and international networks, and that the order goes to the offices of foreign trade in Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Chon Buri, Sa Kaeo , NongKhai, Chiang Rai, Si Sa Ket, Tak, Mukdahan and Kanchanaburi Provinces. Besides, the regional office in Chiang Rai will be soon moved from Rim Kok Sub-district to Rob Wiang Sub-district in Muang District to service seekers’ conveniences. The regional offices of foreign trade issue and check export and import licenses and certificates, regulate the amounts of exports and imports, register exporters and importers, gather data about exports and imports and answer inquiries about exports and imports. The Department of Foreign Trade also answers inquiries through its hotline, 1385, and its website, www.dft.go.th.(TNA)