Intra-regional ASEAN trade on the rise

BANGKOK, August 22 (TNA) - Intra-regional trade among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) has been growing, expected to reach almost 300 billion US dollars in the near future. Boonyarit Kalayanamit, Director-General of the Department of Trade Negotiations, under the Thai Ministry of Commerce, told journalists of the update on Monday, noting that intra-regional ASEAN trade exceeded 270 billion US dollars last year. Boonyarit said for Thailand alone, the country's trade with other ASEAN member countries reached about 91 billion US dollars last year, over 55 billion of which were Thai exports to other member economies in the 10-nation bloc. Boonyarit projected that Thailand's trade with other ASEAN member countries should grow at least 5 per cent year-on-year, or reaching 95-96 billion US dollars, thanks to the rising demand for goods among a total of over 630 million ASEAN population. Acknowledging that ASEAN now becomes Thailand's largest trading partner, the senior official revealed that his department, as the co-ordinator between the Thai Kingdom and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), is also organizing an event marking the 50th anniversary of the establishment of ASEAN at the Central World shopping complex in Bangkok during August 22-23 to show long-standing and solid relations among the 10 ASEAN member countries. According to the senior official, the two-day grand event includes exhibitions on strong intra-regional ties, covering the ASEAN history, major economic cooperation activities towards AEC, benefits from expanding intra-regional trade and investment, movies, the Business Plan Award and regional music and arts. (TNA)