BANGKOK, Dec 3 (TNA) – The Ministry of Commerce (MOC) is pushing the dairy sector to take advantage of Free Trade Area (FTA) agreements to increase exports.
Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said that the ministry has signed a cooperation agreement with five Departments and organisations to push for increased dairy exports to take advantage of recent FTA agreements.
These included the Department of Trade Negotiations, Department of Livestock Development, Food Innopolis, the Dairy Cooperative of Thailand and the Thammasat Consulting, Networking and Coaching Center.
The cooperation agreement covered the preparation of the local dairy sector for the expansion of dairy products export. These will include substantial improvements in production, QC and innovation to take advantage of FTA privileges that will have a profound impact on their livelihood.
The cooperation agreement is the MOC’s plan to intigrate the tasks of the five Departments and organisations to take the benefits from the special privileges granted to Thailand’s dairy sector by the Thai-Australia and Thai-New Zealand FTA agreements.
Both Australia and New Zealand have applied 0 per cent taxes on Thai dairy products since 2015. Thailand on the other hand had asked for a grace period of adjustment from both countries before applying similar 0 per cent taxes. (TNA)