BANGKOK- Thailand expects to complete negotiations over a free trade agreement with the European Union in 2025, Prime Minister SretthaThavisin said on Tuesday, as the government seeks to draw trade and investment to boost the economy.
Talks on the Thai-EU FTA should be completed within one year and a half, Srettha said in a statement after meeting with French President Emmanuel Macron during a visit to France.
Trade talks resumed last year after having been stalled for nearly a decade. The EU had halted negotiations in 2014 after a military coup ousted the civilian government in the Southeast Asian country.
Thailand exported $21.8 billion worth of goods to the EU last year, including autos, computers, jewelry and electric circuits, government data shows, making the bloc its fourth-largest trading partner.
Macron would support Thailand’s request for visa exemption from members of Schengen states, Srettha said, adding the request would be considered after June and hopefully be completed by the end of the year.
Macron will also visit Thailand next year, Srettha added.
Thailand’s exports rose for a fifth straight month in December but at a slower pace and less than analysts’ forecasts, and the commerce ministry said on Friday that it expected small export growth in 2024 after a slight drop last year.
Customs-based exports rose 4.7 percent in December from a year earlier, compared with a forecast for a 6.0 percent year-on-year increase in a Reuters poll, and following November’s 4.9 percent rise.
December exports, a key driver of Thailand’s economy, dropped 2.9 percent from the previous month.
China’s economic slowdown will also have a big impact on Thai exports this year, Keerati Rushchano, the ministry’s permanent secretary, told a briefing.
China was Thailand’s second-largest export market in 2023 with a 12 percent market share, after the United States’ 17.2 percent share.
As exports dropped 1 percent last year, Keerati said the ministry’s 2024 working target for export growth of 1 percent to 2 percent “is challenging”.