Commercial attachés overseas instructed to organise over 100 activities to boost exports

Published : June 06, 2011 :: 12:06:54 [ 624 views ]

BANGKOK, June 5 -- Thai commercial attachés and trade promotion offices overseas have been instructed to organise more than 100 trade activities this year, with an aim to boost Thai exports in 2011 to expand and meet the targeted growth of 15 per cent, a senior commerce ministry official said.

Export Promotion Department director-general Nuntawan Sakuntanaga said the instruction was made during last week’s meeting in Thailand between Commerce Minister Pornthiva Nakasai and commercial attach?s from more than 100 countries. The commercial attach?s were told to help speed up boosting Thai exports to 15 per cent from 12 per cent with total value of more than US$224.6 billion this year.

Mrs Nuntawan said she was confident that this year’s exports would meet the target.

The optimistic view is seen after her department had recently organised an ‘Export Clinic Programme’ in which several local industrial operators had expressed interests in industries among fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), which has a combined population of over 580 million and would become the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.

More Thai goods could penetrate ASEAN member markets after the AEC is formed, as collectively the ASEAN region have ranked first as Thailand’s export destination, replacing the US, Japan and the EU over the past two years.

ASEAN consists of Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.

Report by : MCOT