The Commerce Ministry's Department of Trade Negotiation (DTN) has floated an action plan for 2025 aimed at accelerating trade among Asean countries and pushing trade value among the bloc to exceed the level of US$270 billion it posted last year.
DTN director-general Boonyarit Kalayanamit said the department is pushing ahead with its proposed Asean Single Window as a tool to facilitate trade among Asean countries.
The DTN believes the Asean Single Window would cut short complicated legislative procedures for Asean investors and traders, and unlock trade and investment opportunities in the region.
"Investors in Asean countries would be able to obtain information on how to apply for the BoI incentives and how to distribute goods to clients in Thailand via Asean Single Window," said Mr Boonyarit.
To improve trade and investment among Asean countries, Mr Boonyarit said, the DTN would focus on improving Thai small and medium enterprises through e-commerce platforms.
It also plans to offer some funding for those introducing new innovations that could help facilitate and modernise trade and investment in the region.
He said Asean started its cooperation about 50 years before it became a single market under the Asean Economic Community, cutting import tariffs on nearly 100% of goods in the region to be 0% to help accelerate trade in the region substantially.
He said busier trade in Asean over the past several years has pushed up trade value among the Asean countries to reach $270 billion baht in 2016 and the figure is expected to rise substantially further as the combined population of the region is more than 630 million.
"We need to create more awareness about Asean among Thai traders and investors to encourage them to benefit from Asean free trade agreement," said Mr Boonyarit.
He said the DTN plans to start the Asean Single Window by creating electronic information centres to offer information on export and import before expanding the database and creating links to other trade data in the region.
