Thailand has agreed to exempt tax from a number of commodities it exports to the Maldives.
Speaking to reporters after her return to Thailand from the Maldives last week, Thailand’s Minister of Commerce Apiradi Tantraporn announced that the two nations had agreed to exempt duties from some of Thailand’s export goods to the island nation during the second meeting of the Maldives-Thailand Joint Trade Committee.
The minister declared that Thailand aims to increase trade with the Maldives to USD 200 million by 2018.
Minister Tantraporn added that the two countries have also agreed to expand trade and investments in more fields during the committee meeting, including fisheries and health sectors.
She further said the Maldives government urges Thailand’s entrepreneurs to establish schools in the Maldives to teach food production and travel and tourism to locals.
Minister Apiradi Tantraporn had arrived in the Maldives last Wednesday afternoon to attend the trade committee meeting, but had cut her visit short that night due to the sudden deteriorating health of Thailand’s late monarch. However, she and the Maldives’ economic minister Mohamed Saeed had met unofficially prior to her departure to discuss direct exportation of food products from Thailand to the archipelago without any mediums to broker the deals.
The Maldives has upped efforts to strengthen bilateral trade relations with Thailand following President Abdulla Yameen Abdul Gayoom’s official visit to Thailand in January this year. The economic ministry had also met with Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce and the nation’s businessmen in January.
Thailand exports several commodities to the island nation such as garments, while the Maldives exports a hefty fraction of its fish products to Thailand. Maldives Customs Service’s statistics show that the Maldives had exported goods worth MVR 47 million to Thailand last August alone.
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