MOSCOW (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 16th December, 2019) Thailand will explore the possibility of establishing a free trade agreement with the United Kingdom following Friday's historic election win for Boris Johnson's Conservative Party, which looks to have paved the way for the completion of Brexit next year, Thai media reported.
Auramon Supthaweethum, the director general of the Department of Trade Negotiations for the Thai Ministry of Commerce, said that her organization will now weigh up the potential benefits and drawbacks of establishing a free trade agreement with the UK, the Thai PBS broadcaster reported. Brexit will also prompt Thailand to potentially revise ongoing Thai-EU trade agreement negotiations, particularly regarding the export of chicken.
Securing a new trade deal with the United Kingdom is a top priority for the Thai Ministry of Commerce, given that the UK is one of Thailand's most significant trading partners in Europe. In the first 10 months of 2019, Thai-UK trade totaled $5.28 billion, with exports from Thailand comprising $3.28 billion of this total, although this number is down 4.7 percent compared to last year amid Brexit uncertainty, the broadcaster reported.
The director general also stated that the recent rise in the value of pound sterling was a sign of positive market trends, and that Thailand will seek to strike a new deal before the end of 2020, when the existing legislation will no longer be applicable, the broadcaster reported. Pound sterling has been trading at 3 percent higher against the US Dollar since the election.
On Friday, UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson's Conservative Party secured a historic victory at the polls, as the Tories won 365 of a possible 650 seats in the House of Commons. Johnson's campaign, which rested on the fundamental promise of getting Brexit done, resonated with UK voters and the Conservatives won many seats in Constituencies that had previously voted for Labour for decades. Johnson will seek to agree a withdrawal agreement with the EU by January 31, while existing trade rules will remain in place until the end of 2020.
