Bangkok keen to reduce trade gap with Dhaka

Thai Ambassador in Dhaka Chalermpol Thanchitt speaks at a press meet in the capital yesterday, in connection with Made in Thailand Exhibition 2009, a four-day fair to be organised on March 11. Photo: Thai Trade Centre

The government should conduct a joint study to pinpoint products that would help reduce trade gap between Thailand and Bangladesh, said the Thai Ambassador in Dhaka.
“To reduce trade gap between the two countries, I have proposed to the commerce minister to conduct a joint study to assess some 15 to 20 Bangladeshi products, which would be a hit in the Thai market, and could reduce 5 percent tariff on those items,” Chalermpol Thanchitt told a press meet in Dhaka yesterday.
He announced that a four-day fair 'Made in Thailand Exhibition 2009' would begin at the Pan Pacific Sonargaon Hotel in the capital on March 11.
The products to be put on display in the fair might include readymade garments, leather goods, frozen foods, jute items, the envoy added.
Commerce Minister Faruk Khan is expected to inaugurate the exhibition where about 45 Thai exporters will showcase items like food and beverage, gifts and decoration, health and beauty, garments and fashion, gems and jewelry, household, stationary, electrical, construction and machinery, chemicals, auto parts, accessories and service trade, in 55 stalls.
The fair will take place from 10:00 am to 3:00 pm, but visitors can stay back till 8:00 pm.
The ambassador also said a delegation from Thailand is planning to visit Dhaka to explore the possibility of importing 10 million sets of jute sags from Bangladesh.
Trade between Bangladesh and Thailand was close to $600 million last year, with exports from Thailand accounting for more than 90 percent of this amount, said the ambassador.