Terror attack in London not yet affect Thailand's trade

BANGKOK, March 24 (TNA) - A terror attack near the British Parliament in London on March 22, in which five people were killed and about 40 others were injured, has not yet affected Thailand's trade. Thai Deputy Commerce Minister Sonthirat Sonthijirawong told journalists of the initial outlook on March 23. Sonthirat explained that more time is needed to follow up the updated situation before a fresh assessment will be made on whether Wednesday's terror attack in London would affect Thailand or not, particularly bilateral trade with the United Kingdom. Sonthirat cautioned that more time is also needed to see whether there would be more plots of terror attacks. The deputy commerce minister said his ministry's trade promotion office in London is, in principle, in charge of monitoring updates and regularly reporting the updated situation to the Ministry of Commerce in Thailand. Meanwhile, Somdet Susomboon, Deputy Director-General of the ministry's Department of International Trade Promotion stressed that Wednesday's terror attack in London has not yet affected bilateral trade between UK and Thailand, as there has not been any official notice on trade suspension from the UK government. Somdet noted that the terror attack could affect confidence in public security in the United Kingdom and the UK tourism. According to the senior official, bilateral trade between UK and Thailand stood at 5.87 billion US dollars. UK police claimed Wednesday's incident a terror attack, as a car crashed into pedestrians on the Westminster Bridge before striking a rail fence in front of the UK Parliament, where a senior police officer was also stabbed dead. (TNA)