Thai deputy PM expects robust trade with China
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E-mail Xinhua, April 1, 2012
China and Thailand will see robust growth in bilateral trade this year, as more cooperation is expected and Thailand is recovering fast from last year's disastrous floods, Thailand's deputy prime minister said Sunday.
Bilateral trade between the two Asian countries will expand even faster than their GDP growth, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Kittiratt Na Ranong said after meeting Vice Premier Li Keqiang on the sidelines of the 2012 session of the Boao Forum for Asia (BFA) currently being held in south China's Hainan province.
The three-day forum started on Sunday in Boao, a scenic town and permanent site of the BFA. Li will deliver a keynote speech at an official opening ceremony on Monday.
Kittiratt said Thailand is recovering very quickly from last year's floods, with more than 80 percent of the country's plants having already resumed production and the rest slated to reopen by the end of this month.
Kittiratt, also the country's finance minister, said he expects an economic growth rate of 7 percent for Thailand this year.
Thailand plans to buy more industrial products from China, while China is expected to import more farm produce and bioenergy products from the tropical country, he said.
With China's economy growing steadily, the country will have more purchasing power, Kittiratt said.
Both sides will also make more efforts to boost cooperation in infrastructure construction, especially in the transportation sector, he said.
Kittiratt said he hopes China will offer Thailand more help in building dams and reservoirs to shield the country from devastating floods.
Commenting on China's decision to lower its GDP growth target for 2012, Kittiratt said the targeted 7.5-percent growth for this year is still high, adding that the move's intended effect of cushioning the economy will ultimately benefit the country's people and help stabilize the global economy.
Kittiratt said rising inflationary pressure caused by surging international oil prices will have a limited impact on Asian countries in the long-term, adding that he believes the Chinese government will properly handle the issue.
China is Thailand's second-largest trading partner, with bilateral trade up 22.3 percent year-on-year to hit 64.74 billion U.S. dollars in 2011. Trade between the two countries is expected to reach 100 billion U.S. dollars in 2015.
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