Dunya Newspaper:

Thailand’s Checking the Possibility of Signing Free Trade Agreement with Turkey

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her accompanying delegation that came to Turkey held official talks about signing a free trade agreement between the two countries.

Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra and her accompanying delegation of Thai businessmen came to Turkey last week to hold several official talks. During the visit that lasted for 5 days, Shinawatra held meetings and bilateral talks with the Turkish business world and also met with President Abdullah Gül and Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoğan.  Within the context of the visit, agreements for “transfer of prisoners”, “joint plan of action” and “memorandum of understanding” between the academies of diplomacy were signed.

Cemil Çakar, Deputy Chairman of DEIK’s Turkish-Thai Business Council, said that the Thai officials organized a long and comprehensive visit as they would like to have a bigger share of the Turkish markets and that they checked the possibility of signing a free trade agreement between the two countries. “During this visit which occurred at the same time as the 55^th anniversary of the start of the diplomatic relations between the two countries, it was decided that close and friendly political relations should be improved in the fields of trade and investments as well by signing a Joint Plan of Action. The two prime ministers agreed that the bilateral trade volume which is 1.343 billion dollars as of 2012 should exceed 2 billion dollars. In order to achieve these goals, one of the most important steps is to sign a free trade agreement and the Thai side has confirmed that they will start feasibility works about this issue as immediate as possible,” Çakar said.

Free trade agreement (FTA) signed with Korea is a problem for Thailand

Emphasizing that the participation of the private sectors of the two countries in the FTA process is of great importance, Çakar said: “The private sector of Thailand has been negatively affected due to the FTA signed between Korea and Turkey. That is why, Thailand is more eager about the FTA and they have taken the first step. Even though the Turkish side has not given definite information about that, they will support it in the upcoming period. I can say from experience that our trade volume and export have always increased after we sign a FTA with a specific country.”

Çakar said that Turkey-Thailand relations have started a new era through the official talks Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra held with Prime Minister Erdoğan and added: “Shinawatra has brought businessmen from the energy, food, tourism and trade sectors with her. On the second day of the visit, effective bilateral meetings were held between the Thai and Turkish businessmen attended by Prasert Boonchaisuk, the Thai Minister of Industry, with the coordination of DEIK Turkish-Thai Business Council. By attending this meeting, Ms. Srirat Rastapana, General Director of the International Trade and Promotion Department of the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, and high level officials of the Board of Investment of Thailand showed the importance they attach to the improvement of business relations between Thailand and Turkey.

Economy is moving from west to east

Refik Gökçek, President of DEIK Turkish-Thai Business Council, said that the investments made from Turkey to Thailand are low compared with the potential of the country: “The world economy is moving from west to east. The importance of Asia in export markets is increasing but there is a reverse balance here that we do not see in other countries. Turkey is buying from Asia 6 times, or 9 times more than it sells to it. One should be active in this market,” he said.

Gökçek said that “ASEAN Economic Community” based in Thailand will be formed in ASEAN in 2015 and added that Bangkok is a suitable city for investments and the businessmen should be present there. Gökçek added that Bangkok is close to markets in Vietnam and Myanmar and investments are not made in Vietnam sufficiently even though consumption is increasing there.

Gökçek stated that Thailand is a big market: “We should not see Thailand as Thailand only. We should see it together with Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and Myanmar that surrender it. Those are all newly growing markets. You should have your central office in Bangkok and travel to those places. On 28 November, Istanbul Chamber of Commerce will organize a Fair of Turkish Export Products. We will exhibit Turkish export products there.  Our trade volume with Thailand is 1.5 billion dollars but what we sell is 150-200 million dollars. We do not exist in Asia and we are afraid of China. However, China is a big market as well and there is so much to sell to it. It is not a poor country that just produces and sells products as it used to be in the past. There is a serious amount of consumption there. If the Chinese start drinking milk, there will be a crisis of milk; if they start eating meat, there will be a crisis of meat. It is such a country.”

Source: http://www.dunya.com/tayland-turkiye-ile-sta-icin-nabiz-yokluyor-197715h.htm