EU agrees to negotiate with Thailand on export quotas

Bangkok (VNA) – The European Union has agreed to allow Thailand to negotiate its export quota for 31 products following a request lodged by Thai trade representatives in December 2018.

Local media cited Director-General of the Thai Department of Trade Negotiations Auramon Supthaweethum as saying that the negotiation will deal with the quotas for 31 items that Thailand was given before the EU and the United Kingdom began their Brexit negotiations.

According to her, the products include nine poultry products, nine rice products, four sweet potato and cassava products, six processed fish and shrimp products, and three convenience food products.

The negotiations are important because in 2017 alone the EU spent 1.4 billion USD buying these products, she said.

Thailand also lodged a similar request to the UK, asking for the right to receive export quotas for 30 products, including 10 poultry products, seven rice products, three sweet potato and cassava products, six processed fish and shrimp products, and four convenience food products.

In March, Thailand asked the UK to speed up its deliberation on the request, she said, adding that in 2017, the total export value to the UK for these 30 items stood at 627.6 million USD.

The country wants to wrap up the negotiations with the EU and the UK by September, as the UK is expected to leave the union in October, she stressed.-VNA