Thai Businesses Urged To take Advantage Of FTAs

by Mary Swire, Tax-News.com, Hong Kong

16 August 2010

A certain lack of knowledge within Thailand’s business community about the opportunities offered by Thailand’s existing free trade agreements (FTAs) with Australia and New Zealand, and by South Korea’s similar agreement with the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN, of which Thailand is a full member), has been identified by the government.

For example, according to the Department of Foreign Trade (DFT), Thailand’s exports to Australia reached a total of USD5bn in the first half of this year, of which it believed that only one-half was traded under the Thailand-Australia FTA.

The DFT is hoping to spread the message amongst Thailand’s businesses that they should be aware of what products are included in the reduced tariffs under the two bilateral FTAs. In that way, it says, they can take advantage of the agreements and expand their markets.

A similar message is also being given to encourage the utilisation, by both importers and exporters, of the ASEAN-South Korea FTA. It was said that a working group under the FTA has recommended that member countries of the agreement should encourage their businesses to make more use of its tariff benefits.

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