Thai Commerce Ministry pushes exports

BANGKOK, August 5 (TNA) - Realising that Thailand’s exports could further deteriorate and may not meet the government’s target of 15 per cent growth in 2012 due to financial crisis in euro zone, Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom said concerned government agencies are preparing to boost cross border trade. Boonsong said a working committee tasked with boosting exports agreed at a recent meeting to set up a special working committee responsible for overseeing current potential markets which are major importers of Thai goods and to also explore for new importers. He said related government agencies are considering to upgrade four Thai-Cambodian temporary customs checkpoints and another Thai-Myanmar checkpoint in Kanchanaburi province to a permanent one with an aim to boost cross border trade with those two countries as proposed by Thai private sector. Olarn Chaipravat, president of Thai Trade Representative Office, will also become chairman of the cross border trade working committee and to encourage businessmen to invest in Thailand’s neighbouring countries. The working committee will hold a meeting once a month while members of several sub-committee groups are scheduled to meet on a weekly basis in order to push the country’s exports growth this year to meet the government’s target of 15 per cent. (TNA)