On 25 November 2011, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs hosted the 3rd Bilateral Economic Consultations (BEC) between Thailand and Argentina. The Thai delegation was led by Mr. Chirachai Punkrasin, Director-General of the Department of American and South Pacific Affairs and the Argentine delegation was led by Mr. Horacio Salvador, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Negotiations.
BEC is one of the mechanisms to review the existing cooperation as well as explore ways to further advance cooperation in various areas of mutual interest, including trade and investment, agriculture, culture, education, sports and tourism. The meeting also provides a good opportunity for related agencies of both countries to meet and discuss the matters in further details.
During the meeting, the two sides discussed the possibility of further expanding trade and investment through more exchanges of trade delegations, cooperation in agriculture, fisheries and livestock as well as technical cooperation in alternative energy. As for multilateral cooperation, Thailand and Argentina reiterated the importance of the ASEAN-MERCOSUR ties and expressed the wish to reinforce partnership and cooperation. Thailand also took this opportunity to congratulate the Argentine side for the success of the 5th Forum on East Asia - Latin America Cooperation (FEALAC) Ministerial Meeting held in Buenos Aires in August 2011.
Argentina is Thailand’s third biggest trade partner in Latin America (after Brazil and Mexico) which can serve as the gateway to the MERCOSUR market. In 2010, Argentina showed strong economic performance with a growth rate of 8.9 percent. The bilateral trade volume between Thailand and Argentina reached 1.1 billion US dollar, representing a 35.68 percent increase from the previous year.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th