On Friday 13 November 2009 in Singapore, Foreign Minister Kasit Piromya was part of the Thai Prime Minister’s delegation for bilateral consultations with President Alan Garcia of Peru. The talks preceded the leaders’ witnessing of the signing ceremony of the Second Additional Protocol to Accelerate the Liberalization of Trade in Goods and Trade Facilitation (Early Harvest Scheme) of the Thailand-Peru FTA. This signing enables it to be implemented soon.
The purpose of the talks was to build greater familiarity between the two leaders and further strengthen bilateral relations. Thailand’s strategy towards Latin America is to pursue new markets, utilizing Peru as a gateway to the Andean Community, South America, as well as North America.
In their bilateral relations, Thailand and Peru also support mutually beneficial technical cooperation and exchanges of best practices, especially in the areas of aquaculture, fish processing, tourism, natural dyeing techniques and biodiversity.
The above-mentioned Second Additional Protocol commits Thailand and Peru to the following liberalization of trade in goods:
- Thailand to reduce or eliminate 5,962 tariff lines or equivalent to 70.8 percent of all goods tariffs, wherein 46.3 percent will be immediately eliminated and 24.5 percent will be reduced to zero within 5 years.
- Peru to reduce or eliminate 5,259 tariff lines or equivalent to 71.5 percent of all goods tariffs, wherein 54.2 percent will be immediately eliminated and 17.3 percent will be reduced to zero within 5 years.
Bilateral trade has been growing at a regular pace and reached USD 327.92 million in 2008. In 2008, 2,376 Peruvians visited Thailand. Peru is the only country in the Latin American region with which Thailand has signed a Closer Economic Partnership Agreement which has led to the negotiation of an FTA between the two countries.
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