Thailand aims to reach a document of mutual understanding this year to pave the way for negotiations of the long-awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the European Union.

Thailand’s Minister of Commerce, Jurin Laksanawisit, informed that this document will serve as a framework for negotiations that could begin in early 2022.

Luckily @PirkkaTapiola and I could host our outdoor event #Europe means Business in #Thailand before the new #SARSCov2 cases were discovered. #GreenRecovery, FTA and more discussed. @MFAThai @EUinThailand pic.twitter.com/j9kTmcoID5

— Georg Schmidt (@GermanAmbTHA) December 21, 2020

The local press reported that Jurin, who held a meeting with the EU ambassador to Thailand, Pirkka Tapiola, earlier this week, assured that the Thai government is strongly committed to the FTA with the eurozone.

Meanwhile, the EU expects Thailand to be the third member country of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to sign an FTA with, after Singapore and Vietnam.

Negotiations between the two sides were suspended following the 2014 coup in Thailand.

-Thailand News (TN)