Mini Thailand Week To Boost Malaysia-Thai Trade Relations

By Sharifah Pirdaus Syed Ali PETALING JAYA (Selangor, Malaysia), Aug 20 (Bernama) -- Mini Thailand Week 2016 (MTW 2016), a Thai lifestyle and culture showcase launched here Friday, is set to further promote business and strengthen trade relations between Malaysia and Thailand. Minister Counsellor (Commercial) of the Royal Thai Embassy in Kuala Lumpur, Patcha Wutipan, said this year's event targeted to attract at least 5,000 visitors compared to 10,000 last year. Themed "Living Premier, Living in Style", the ninth edition of the annual trade showcase is held from Aug 18-21 at the local shopping centre of 1 Utama Shopping Complex here. It focused on Thai premier lifestyle products including, among others, houseware and home decorative, designer fashion and jewelleries, dyed cotton apparel and fabric housewares from 20 participating companies, she said. "The MTW 2016 is of a smaller scale this year compared to previous years when most of our products were food and beverages that was already so well known here in Malaysia. "Now we choose to do it differently by bringing in lifestyle products with premium quality that we exclusively selected because we believe we have a lot more cultural heritage products that are uniquely designed to showcase," she told Bernama on the sidelines of MTW 2016. She said despite the Malaysian ringgit depreciation, there was still potential demand for Thai premium products as customers wanted to be given choices, plus the product prices were not expensive considering their quality. MTW 2016 is expected to generate at least US$578,121 (20 million baht) worth of business deals from Malaysian entrepreneurs who had registered for business matchings, she said. She said besides the product exhibition, the event will also feature activities such as handcraft demonstration including painting of Benjarong porcelain, painting of Thai traditional lacquerware with gold applique and Thai music performance. Earlier in his speech during the launch of MTW 2106, Ambassador of Thailand to Malaysia, Damrong Kraikruan, said the showcase was designed to promote greater and closer trade relationship with Malaysia. He said Thai heritage has been cherished over centuries, blending cultural influences from India, China, Cambodia and the rest of Southeast Asia, and with the solid foundation, it had created sophisticated craftmanship. Thai traditional craft work had developed in its own distinctive style which has evolved into high-end contemporary lifestyle products, said Damrong. --BERNAMA