EFTA States and Thailand meet for their second round of negotiations

From left to right: Patrick Ritter – Liechtenstein, Sveinn K. Einarsson - Iceland, Sveinung Røren - Norway, Markus Schlagenhof - Switzerland (EFTA Spokesperson), Auramon Supthaweetum - Head of the Thai delegation, Krisztina Bende - EFTA Secretariat

Ambassador Markus Schlagenhof, Delegate of the Federal Council for Trade Agreements at the Swiss State Secretariat for Economic Affairs, acted as the EFTA spokesperson, while Director General Auramon Supthaweetum from the Department of Trade Negotiations in the Ministry of Commerce of Thailand, headed the Thai delegation.

The parties met at heads level and in expert groups to discuss trade in goods, rules of origin, trade facilitation, sanitary and phytosanitary measures (SPS), technical barriers to trade (TBT), trade in services, investment, e-commerce, trade remedies, competition, legal and horizontal issues, dispute settlement, government procurement, trade and sustainable development, cooperation and capacity building as well as intellectual property rights.

The exchanges were both positive and productive. In some areas substantive progress was achieved. You can find EFTA’s objectives in the negotiations with the Kingdom of Thailand here.

EFTA’s full report of the second round of negotiations is available here. 

Delegations agreed to hold the next round in Bangkok in January 2023.

Economic relations between the EFTA States and Thailand

Bilateral EFTA–Thailand merchandise trade reached more than USD 2.82 billion in 2021. EFTA’s main exports to Thailand were fish and crustaceans such as salmon and mackerel, pharmaceutical products and clocks and watches. For the same year, imports from Thailand consisted mainly of iron and steel parts for large infrastructures, consumer electronics, fruits and food preparations, fish, parts for the watchmaking industry and vehicles.

Read more about merchandise trade between EFTA and Thailand here.