PM Yingluck thanked the EC President for his invitation to visit Brussels, and commended EU for its leading role in the global affairs and its alliance with Thailand. This meeting is the 2nd meeting in 4 months which reflected close ties between the two parties. President of the European Commission, in turn, reaffirmed that EU considered Thailand as its significant partner.
Thailand-EU’s FTA - Both parties agreed that negotiating process should start the soonest. The Thai Government appointed Mr. Olarn Chaiprawat as leader of the negotiation team. Thailand also expressed its readiness in initiating the negotiation with EU on the Voluntary Partnership Agreement (VPA) for the enforcement on forestry act, good governance, and trade which would facilitate the export of woods and wooden products to EU by Thai entrepreneurs.
Trade Cooperation – PM Yingluck thanked EU for its registration of Protected Geographical Indications for Thai jasmine rice “Khao Hom Mali Thung Kula Ronghai” and expressed her hope that EU would extend the same support to two other Thai products, namely Doi Chaang coffee and Doi Tung coffee. EU agreed to promote market expansion of Thai organic products as well.
Following the discussion, PM Yingluck and President of the European Commission gave a joint press conference on the outcomes of discussion. PM Yingluck first thanked the President of the European Commission for the warm welcome on the occasion of her first official visit to EU.
The European Union is a significant alliance of Thailand with the trade value of over 10% of Thailand’s total foreign trade value. There are more than 5.5 million Europeans visiting Thailand annually. Moreover, constant increase of investments between Thailand and EU has been seen in various fields of business.
On the promotion of relations between Thailand and EU, the President of the European Commission and PM Yingluck were pleased with the progress of Partnership and Cooperation Agreement (PCA) after 8 years of negotiation. The PCA will be a bilateral cooperation framework for all levels based on mutual values and interests. Both sides agreed to expedite the signing of the Agreement.
The President of the European Commission and PM Yingluck agreed to initiate Thailand-EU FTA negotiation as soon as possible since FTA is a crucial mechanism for trade and investment promotion, increase of employment rate, and economic growth.
As for the bilateral affairs, Thailand was content with the opportunity to expand cooperation on food security, fishery, science and technology, and sustainable forest management with EU. On this occasion, PM Yingluck was pleased to announce that Thailand is ready to initiate the VPA negotiation with EU under for the enforcement on forestry act, good governance, and trade which would facilitate the export of woods and wooden products to EU by Thai entrepreneurs.
On regional and global affairs, PM Yingluck was pleased with EU’s ongoing economic recovery as Thailand has confidence in EU’s role as the key player of global economy. The President of the European Commission was also pleased with ASEAN becoming the ASEAN Community in 2015 and reaffirmed EU’s eagerness to continue its relations with ASEAN. PM Yingluck noted that during his visit to EU, President Thein Sein of Myanmar had requested for EU’s support in the reform of Myanmar.
The President of the European Commission and PM Yingluck also discussed about global cooperation. In order to decrease developmental gap and disparity, as well as to tackle with climate change and natural disaster, both parties endorsed international cooperation on Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). In this connection, Thailand had set its goals on health services, poverty eradication, and natural disaster management. PM Yingluck also called for EU’s support on Thailand’s application for a non-permanent membership of UN Security Council for 2017-2018.
Lastly, PM Yingluck thanked the President of the European Commission for its registration of Protected Geographical Indications for Thai jasmine rice “Khao Hom Mali Thung Kula Ronghai” and expressed her hope that EU would extend the same support to two other Thai products, namely Doi Chaang coffee and Doi Tung coffee.
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