BANGKOK – Chilean fruit exports to Thailand are set to increase following a decision to extend the bilateral Free Trade Agreement during a meeting in Bangkok this week.
This is the first time the two governments have met since the trade deal was signed in November 2015.
The agreement, which gives preferential access to more than 90 percent of products, also covers matters such as trade in goods, services, rules of origin, customs procedures, sanitary regulations, technical barriers to trade, transparency and dispute resolution.
“The purpose of this meeting was to evaluate the operation of the agreement and see how we can improve and increase our business relationship with Thailand,” said Pablo Urria, Direcon’s director of bilateral economic affairs, who led the Chilean delegation.
Thailand has committed to travelling to Chile in the coming months to establish a committee on sanitary and phytosanitary measures and to review the conditions for advancing the authorization for the export of Chilean agricultural products to that country.
The second meeting of the Free Trade Commission of the FTA between Chile and Thailand is due to be held in Chile in 2018.
Bilateral trade between Thailand and Chile reached US$990m in 2016.
