Thailand, China cooperate on building regional database

BANGKOK, May 5 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Commerce’s Department of Trade Negotiations has joined forces with Beijing-based International Business and Economics University in building a database for the Association of Southeast Asian Nations Economic Community (AEC), set to be established by 2015. The department's director-general Srirat Rastapana said Saturday that the cooperation will further strengthen economic relations between Thailand and China and between ASEAN and China. Srirat acknowledged that China's International Business and Economics University, under the supervision of the Chinese Commerce and Education Ministries, is a leading university teaching economics and international trade and having more than 1,000 foreign, including Thai, students presently, as well as providing training for Chinese Commerce Ministry officials and conducting research on China’s economic and international trade policies. Presently, two-way trade between Thailand and China is approximately 58 billion U.S. dollars annually. (TNA)