Thailand, RI set to meet for economic talks
Thailand, RI set to meet for economic talks
BANGKOK (AFP): Senior Thai and Indonesian officials will address bilateral economic issues Friday, a month before they turn their attention to regional problems at an annual ASEAN conference, officials said yesterday.
A primary concern at the two-day gathering, the second round of Indonesian-Thai economic talks since 1992, is likely to be Thailand's trade deficit which has kept pace with the countries' growing trade volume.
Bilateral trade jumped from US$574 million in 1992 to more than $720 million last year, according to Thailand's department of foreign trade.
But Thailand's trade deficit with Indonesia leapt as well, from six million dollars to $315 million during the same period, a department official said.
Thailand's primary imports from Indonesia are expensive refined resources -- natural gas and petroleum -- whereas Indonesia imports mostly agricultural products, such as rice, from Thailand.
Both sides would have a chance this week to offer ways of expanding trade while righting the trend to lopsided growth, a foreign ministry official here indicated.
According to Indonesia's Central Bureau of Statistics, Indonesia's exports to Malaysia increased by 20.1 percent to US$585.43 million last year from $487.53 million in 1992, while its imports from that country fell 1.3 percent to $517.4 million from $524.57 million.
Other topics at the talks this week may include investment, air traffic control rights and international fishing rights, another foreign ministry official said.
Wisber Luis, the director-general for economic relations for Indonesia's Foreign Ministry is expected to represent his side, an Indonesian embassy official here said.
The Thai Foreign Ministry has not yet settled on a representative for its side, a ministry official said.
The meeting comes a month prior to the annual meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) economic ministers in the northern Thai province of Chiang Mai on Sept. 19-24.
ASEAN groups Brunei, Malaysia, the Philippines and Singapore with Indonesia and Thailand.