Grand int'l business matching event to be held in Bangkok late Feb

BANGKOK, February 13 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Commerce will organize a grand international business matching event in Bangkok late this month as part of its measures to help boost Thai exports this year. Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Chutima Bunyapraphasara told journalists on Wednesday that her ministry's Department of International Trade Promotion has been assigned to organize the grand international business matching event, dubbed Thailand’s Sourcing Forum, at the Centara Grand at Central Plaza Ladprao Bangkok Hotel on February 26, when over 100 foreign importers of food, organic farm products and other consumer goods, as well as environmentally-friendly products will be invited to meet their Thai counterparts to hold their trade talks. Chutima said that the invited foreign parties will also include those running educational institutes, franchises of food products and online business platforms. According to the deputy minister, there should be at least 600 pairs of Thai and foreign businesses matched at the one-day event with their initially-agreed trade value of over 200 million baht totally, before expectedly growing to at least 1.75 billion baht totally within one year. Department of International Trade Promotion Director General Banjongjitt Angsusingh then told reporters that the invited foreign business operators include those running modern trade, namely Hangzhou Lianhua, 759 Store, Reliance Retail, Future Retail, Anokhi, Makro and Big C, as well as such online platforms as Alibaba.com, Herma Fresh, PayTM, JD and NYKAA. Banjongjitt stated that her ministry is also working out a plan on helping penetrate new importing markets for Thai exporters in 10 target Chinese provinces and other potential global markets, including the immense Indian market, suggesting Thai business operators who are interested in expanding their export markets or running their businesses overseas to access to her department's website, https://drive.ditp.go.th, or hotline 1169 for further information. Meanwhile, the Ministry of Commerce has maintained its target of Thailand's export growth in 2019 at about 8 per cent year-on-year despite remaining internal and external risk factors. (TNA)