A bird's eye view of the Koh Kong bridge in Cambodia that crosses the Kaoh Pao River. Koh Kong is a Cambodian border province which Thais can access via the Ban Hat Lek checkpoint in Khlong Yai district of Thailand's province (Photo:bangkokpost.com)Bangkok (VNA) – The Thai government has set a goal of reviving cross-border trade including transit trade this year after the value contracted by 2.6% in 2023 from the previous year to 1.74 trillion THB (47.6 billion USD).
Ronnarong Phoolpipat, director general of the Foreign Trade Department, said to achieve the target, the Commerce Ministry is committed to expediting cross-border and transit trade under the government's investment promotion strategy for 2024-27.
This involves collaboration with relevant state agencies to facilitate and stimulate cross-border and transit trade, such as establishing one-stop service (OSS) centres and linking export-import documents through the National Single Window system to streamline trade processes.
According to the ministry's data, of the total cross-border and transit trade in 2023, exports accounted for 981 billion THB (down 4.6%) and imports 762 billion (up 0.2%). Thailand maintained a trade surplus for the year of 219 billion THB
Cross-border trade with four neighbouring countries tallied 930 billion THB in 2023, with exports comprising 580 billion and imports 350 billion. Thailand had a trade surplus of 230 billion THB.
Regarding transit trade to third countries, the total value was 813 billion THB last year, up 11.2% from the previous year. Of the total, exports represented 401 billion THB (up 5.3%) and imports were worth 412 billion THB (up 17.7%).
China was the top transit trade partner with a value of 423 billion THB, followed by Singapore at 107 billion THB and Vietnam 70.1 billion THB./.
