Thailand proposes to set up ASEAN organic Federation

BANGKOK, June 12 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Commerce, plans to join forces with the private sector in the country and in other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to set up the ASEAN Organic Federation (AOF), the first of its kind in the 10-member bloc. Thai Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn told journalists on June 11 that Thailand will first raise the proposed plan for a regional discussion at the upcoming Organic & Natural Expo, set to be held at the Queen Sirikit National Convention Center in Bangkok during July 27-30, 2017. Apiradi noted that her ministry also plans to open four more organic villages in the country within this year, including those in the northeastern Nakhon Phanom and Chaiyaphum Provinces, as well as those in the central Lop Buri and the northern Chiang Mai Provinces, after the first two organic villages have been opened as the pilot projects at Ban Nong Sano in Nakhon Phanom and Ban Nong Hoy in Chaiyaphum. The minister said she believed the plan to open organic villages in several Thai provinces would pave the way for Thailand to become an organic farming hub in the ASEAN Community (AC) in the future, especially among the five ASEAN mainland member countries, including Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand (CLMVT), through the CLMVT Organic Farmer Network Development Program. According to the commerce minister, her ministry has also worked out a strategic master plan on the comprehensive development of the Thai organic products market 2017-2021 under a vision on turning the Thai Kingdom to become a regional leader in the production, trading and consumption of organic products through four strategies. The four strategies include creating the awareness on the development of Thai organic products among stakeholders throughout their supply chains, developing an internationally-recognized standard and a certification system for Thai organic products, promoting and expanding markets for Thai organic products and services and producing value-added Thai organic products and services. (TNA)