BANGKOK: During the the second Meeting of the Joint Trade Committee (JTC) set up by Thailand and Malaysia, the two nations agreed to increase their trade value to 30 billion USD by 2018.
Last year the two countries engaged in trade valued at 25.5 billion USD, 10 percent of which was attributed to border trade.
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The discussion was between Dato’ Sri Mustapa Mohamed, Malaysian Ministry of International Trade and Industry, and General Chatchai Sarikalya, Thai Commerce Minister.
The two nations aim to boost border trade, saying a joint border trade committee will be established. The new committee will set a firm direction for border trade promotion. It will also be responsible for issuing appropriate investment policies for the new Special Economic Zone in Sadao District of Songkhla Province.
The government and the private sector are to expand their cooperation in producing better quality Halal goods and providing better services. Thailand had already drafted such a plan for 2016 – 2020. The cooperative plan with Malaysia will be integrated into the strategy in the near future.
Furthermore, ministers from both countries have signed two memorandums of understanding, to accelerate the implementation of bilateral agreements on cross border logistics.
Thailand has also agreed to consider Malaysia’s request to speed up the process involved in registering medical products. In turn, Malaysia will consider importing more rice from Thailand.
