WL status expected to boost Thai trade, investment

BANGKOK, December 19 (TNA) - The Ministry of Commerce says that Thailand's improved status, from the Priority Watch List (PWL) to the Watch List (WL) announced by Washington recently based on its 2017 “Special 301” Report of the US Trade Representative (USTR), should boost Thai trade and investment due to more confidence in the Thai economy in terms of the better protection of intellectual property rights. Making the assessment, new Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong pointed out that the improved status should particularly boost confidence in the Thai economy among international traders and investors in technological and innovative industries where the protection of intellectual property rights is a major factor to drive them forward. Sonthirat told journalists that foreign investment projects seeking promotional privileges from the Thai government during the first nine months of this year in 10 targeted domestic industries reached about 116.27 billion US dollars, the top three of which relied on the protection of intellectual property rights as a major factor for their production processes. According to the minister, the three Thai industries included the manufacturing of automobiles, petrochemical and chemical products and electronic products, worth about 32.43, 26.99 and 26.73 billion US dollars respectively. The minister also noted that Thai traders and exporters of products shipped to the US market remained enjoying trade privileges under the Generalized System of Preference (GSP) totally worth about 3.10 billion US dollars during the first nine months of this year, or 72.98 per cent of the overall privileges worth about 4.25 billion US dollars granted by Washington to Bangkok. The minister acknowledged Thai exports that have been beneficiaries of the US GSP Program include accessories and parts of air conditioners and automobiles, as well as beverages, rubber gloves and processed food products. The minister stressed that Thailand's present WL status should further boost the country's trade and investment with the United States and other trading partners, suggesting that all relevant parties in the country carry on their integrated actions on the protection of intellectual property rights in order to eventually lift the Thai Kingdom from Washington's WL list in the future. The minister indicated that the protection of intellectual property rights has also enhanced the commercial values of Thai patented products, namely movies, songs, games and animation media programs. (TNA)