H.E. Mr. Alongkorn Ponlaboot, the Deputy Minister of Commerce of Thailand, said that today (13 November 2009) Thailand and Peru signed “ the Second Additional Protocol to the Protocol between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Republic of Peru to Accelerate the Liberalization of Trade in Goods and Trade Facilitation” in Singapore during the APEC meeting. The signing ceremony was also witnessed by the leaders of both countries.
Under the agreement, Thailand and Peru will lift import tariffs on approximately 70 percent of traded products between the two countries. Thailand will greatly benefit from Peru’s tariff reduction on several Thai products such as pick up trucks, washing machines, microwave ovens, printers, electric lamps, and rubber products. Meanwhile, Thailand will reduce import tariffs on Peruvian products generally used as materials in Thai industries or those in which Thai producers are well established, for example, zinc ore, tanning chemicals, fish oil and frozen seafood. However, this agreement has not included sensitive products such as fish meal, copper cathodes and zinc alloys.
Thailand and Peru will accelerate their internal procedures in order to enable the agreement to enter into force in the first quarter of next year. The agreement is expected to enhance trade between Thailand and Peru which currently stands at 327 US$ million and is likely to encourage Thai producers to increase trade with Peru and other countries in South America. Peru is considered to be an important gateway to South America due to its relatively central location within the continent. In addition, Peru is now constructing a highway to Brazil connecting the Pacific and Atlantic Ocean as well as building a new port to facilitate the shipment of goods to other countries within the region.
The signing of the agreement will enable the “Protocol and the Additional Protocol to Accelerate the Liberalization of Trade in Goods and Trade Facilitation (Early Harvest)” signed in 2005 and 2006 to enter into force. This agreement is an amendment of the list of goods and specific rules of origin from the Harmonized System 2002 to the Harmonized System 2007.
The Deputy Minister of Commerce added that in order to protect the Thai fish meal industry, fish meal is excluded from the current Thai tariff reduction schedule. However, to improve the competitiveness of the Thai fish meal industry under the assumption that it will be open to international competition in the future, the Thai government has allocated 12.8 million baht to conduct two manufacturing improvement projects since 2007, including the implementation of good manufacturing practice (GMP) and hazard analysis critical control points (HACCP) standards. For example, the GMP project, has already 40 participating plants and thereby lifted product quality of the participants making the Thai fish meal industry one step closer to competing in the world market.
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Department of Trade Negotiations
Bureau of America and Pacific
November 2009