NONTHABURI, April 1 (TNA) — The Commerce Ministry has asked Yunnan province to open Chinese markets for more Thai products.
Deputy Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara said she made the request during the recent visit of Chen Hao, Communist Party Secretary of Yunnan.
The Thai minister said she hoped Yunnan which was a gateway for cross-border e-commerce to help Thai operators, especially small-scaled ones, market their products in China and protect their intellectual property.
In their meeting, Ms Chutima said, both sides discussed trade issues to realize Thailand and China’s goal to increase the value of bilateral trade to 140 billion US dollars within 2021, from 80.14 billion US dollars last year.
The value of Thai-Yunnan trade was estimated at 1.03 billion US dollars last year, up 43% from the previous year.
Both sides had potential to considerably raise their trade value and the Commerce Ministry would organize Thai trade fairs in Kunming and nearby cities this year, Miss Chutima said.
Yunnan was the closest Chinese province to Thailand. It had a population of 48 million and its economy was growing fast, with the pace of 8.9% last year. Besides, Yunnan was developing its industries in accordance with projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor of Thailand, she said. (TNA)