Thailand and Vietnam announced a plan to increase the value of bilateral trade by the end of 2025 at the 4th Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting.
Following the meeting occured in Bangkok, Commerce Minister Jurin Laksanawisit stated that his discussions with Vietnam’s Minister of Industry and Trade, Nguyen Hong Dien, resulted in a mutual target of $25 billion in bilateral trade by 2025, up from $20 billion in 2021.
Last year, Vietnam was Thailand’s second-largest ASEAN trading partner and the world’s sixth-largest after China, Japan, the United States, the European Union, and Malaysia.
Trade between the two countries in 2021 totaled $19.5 billion, a 17.3 percent increase from the year before. Thai exports to Vietnam last year also accounted for $12.5 billion, a 12.3 percent increase, while imports from Vietnam accounted for $6.93 billion, a 27.6 percent increase.
Automobiles and auto parts, plastic resin, refined oil, chemicals, air conditioners, and components were important Thai exports, electrical appliances, crude oil, electrical machinery and components, steel and steel products, and chemicals were vital Vietnamese imports.
Thailand asked Vietnam for assistance in facilitating Thai fruit deliveries across borders via Vietnamese checkpoints to China’s Youyiguan border checkpoint. Jurin also requested that Vietnam assist in negotiating with Beijing the operation of two additional border checkpoints to facilitate trade.
