BANGKOK — Chotima Iamsawatigul, Director-General of the Department of Trade Negotiations, announced that she had been assigned by acting Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Phumtham Wechayachai on behalf of the Prime Minister to lead Thai representatives to attend the 10th round of negotiations for the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) in Geneva, Switzerland, from August 19–23, 2024.
The negotiations on the FTA with EFTA are a central concern of the government and the Ministry of Trade. The aim is to conclude the agreement before the end of this year in order to expand trade and investment opportunities and improve the country’s competitiveness. The Ministry and the relevant authorities will work swiftly to clarify all outstanding issues in order to achieve this goal.
The meeting will be divided into 10 sub-groups dealing with the following topics: 1) Trade in Goods, 2) Rules of Origin, 3) Remedies, 4) Trade in Services, 5) Investment, 6) Electronic Commerce, 7) Intellectual Property, 8) Government Procurement, 9) General, Final, Institutional and Dispute Settlement Provisions, and 10) Technical Cooperation and Capacity Building.
Representatives from Thai agencies, including those from the Ministry of Commerce and external agencies such as the Ministry of Finance, the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives, the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Public Health, the Customs Department, the Comptroller General’s Department, the Board of Investment and the Office of the Council of State will participate in the negotiations on the relevant issues.
In 2023, EFTA was Thailand’s 16th largest trading partner. Trade between Thailand and EFTA was worth USD 9,882.75 million, accounting for 1.72 percent of Thailand’s total global trade.
Thailand exported goods worth USD 4.38 billion to EFTA and imported goods worth USD 5.49 billion from EFTA. Major exports include gems and jewelry, watches and watch components, steel and steel products, air conditioning equipment and parts, and travel goods. The most important imports include precious stones, jewelry, silver and gold bars, watches and watch components, meat for human consumption and pharmaceutical products.
The European free trade association (EFTA) Is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European states: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The organization operates in parallel with the European union (EU), and all four member states participate in the european single market and are partof the Schengen area. They are not, however, party to the European Union Customs Union.
In June 2022, the EFTA States and Thailand met in Borgarnes, Iceland, to relaunch free trade negotiations. Since then, nine rounds of negotiations have been held, the latest from April 23 to 26, 2024 in Bangkok. The public report of the last round is available here.
The negotiations towards a Free Trade Agreement with Thailand were originally launched in October 2005. Two rounds of negotiations were held between 2005 and 2006. The negotiations were on hold from 2006 to 2022 after military coups occurred twice in Thailand in 2006 and 2014.
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