On July 19, the economy ministers of Thailand and Turkey – Apiradi Tantraporn and Nihat Zeybekci, made an official statement that the two countries are negotiating a free trade deal.
The statement was made at a press meeting in Ankara, where both the ministers stated that the free trade agreement (FTA) between the two countries would result in a 40 percent increase in bilateral trade.
Zeybekci highlighted the fact that the two nations will start with goods trade and later on move to investments, services and electronic trade.
Commenting on the bilateral trade with Thailand, Zeybekci said, “Our technical delegations finalised impact analyses on the road to an FTA with Thailand. On the basis of these analyses, we expect to boost our bilateral trade by 40 percent in the initial stage. In a three-year period after the deal is signed, we aim to double our bilateral trade.”
Simultaneously, Turkey is also trying to seal FTA deals with Japan, Indonesia and Vietnam.
Expressing optimism about the FTA deal with Turkey, Apiradi stated, “We will celebrate the 60th anniversary of our bilateral economic ties next year. We want to sign the deal by 2018.”