EU- Thailand relaunch trade negotiations

The EU on March 15 announced the relaunch of negotiations for a modern and balanced free trade agreement (FTA) with sustainability at its core, especially in the green technology field.
EU- Thailand relaunch trade negotiations ảnh 1Rice on shelves of a supermarket in Bangkok, Thailand. (Photo: AFP/VNA)
Brussels (VNA) - The EU on March 15 announced the relaunch of negotiations for amodern and balanced free trade agreement (FTA) withsustainability at its core, especially in the green technology field. 


Thebloc and Thailand, Southeast Asia’s second largest economy, launchednegotiations in 2013 but discussions stalled due to Thailand’s political instability.

Todate, the EU’s investment in Thailand in many areas such as clean and renewableenergies, electric vehicles and microchips is under-represented in spite ofthey are strategic areas in the bloc’s industrial policies.

The first round of talks is expected to be held  in the coming months.

Trade turnover between thetwo sides was worth over 42 billion EUR (44.3 billion USD) in 2022.

The EU is pushing to develop better trade relations with afast-growing Indo-Pacific region, especially in clean technology as the blocraces to meet climate targets by 2030.

Brusselsalready has trade agreements with Vietnam and Singapore. In September 2022, thebloc set a target to agree a free trade deal with Indonesia withintwo years./.

VNA

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