Thailand plans to wrap commerce negotiations with Efta nations by early next year appears to be the key objective for Thailand’s commerce representatives. The chief negotiator, Auramon Supthaweethum, who is also the director-general of the Department of Trade Negotiations, shared that the current two-level discussions are happening in Oslo, Norway.
The fifth round of the Thai-Efta FTA negotiations has started, and both parties are within the process of settling the remaining issues and aiming for an accelerated joint decision. These negotiations are believed to be at the midway point, and the aim is to conclude them inside the first quarter of 2024.
In this spherical, negotiators and sub-groups from each parties are involved within the talks. Heading the Thai delegation is Auramon, while Efta is represented by Markus Schlagenhof, the organisation’s spokesman and Federal Council for Trade Agreements delegate from the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs.
There are Plain working teams collaborating in the discussions: trade in goods; rules of origin; sanitary and phytosanitary measures; technical barriers to commerce; commerce in companies; funding; e-commerce; authorities procurement; intellectual property rights; sustainable commerce and growth; dispute settlement; and cooperation and capacity constructing.
The Efta comprises four international locations: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland, and Liechtenstein. Thailand and Efta launched talks on a prospective FTA in June last yr after initial discussions from 2005 to 2006 had been stalled.
On average, the annual trade between Thailand and Efta from 2018 to 2022 amounted to US$9.85 billion. In 2022, Efta was Thailand’s 14th-largest trading partner, with a complete trade value of US$11.5 billion, a 54% year-on-year improve. The commerce worth between each parties reached US$3.04 billion in the first four months of this yr..