Thailand to Host ASEAN Trade Fair This Year

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Last updated at: (Beijing Time) Saturday, January 26, 2002

Thailand to Host ASEAN Trade Fair This Year

Thailand will host a landmark trade fair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this year, according to a report of the Thai News Agency (TNA) Saturday.

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Thailand will host a landmark trade fair of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) later this year, according to a report of the Thai News Agency (TNA) Saturday.

Commerce Minister Adisai Bodharamik was quoted as saying that the Thai government would invest 100 million baht (2.27 million U.S. dollars) for the host of the grand ASEAN trade fair, to be held at the Impact Exhibition Center in Muang Thong Thani in Nonthaburi province between October 14 and 20.

It will be the first ASEAN trade fair in over a decade. It will be, therefore, a significant event for all ASEAN member countries to join forces to create a new dimension for strengthened trade and investment in the region, which has abundant resources, and is considered an immense market with the total consumers of over 500 million, he stated.

Other Asian countries, including India and Pakistan, would also be welcome to join the landmark regional trade fair, he disclosed.

Adisai said that the one-week trade fair would also pave the way for the full opening up of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) in the near future.

ASEAN is a world major exporter of varied goods and products, and is a global center of skilled labors and innovations. The trade fair will further promote and enhance the grouping's potential and bargaining power against powerful markets, he pointed out.

Inter-country trade in the ASEAN region currently grows over 30 percent despite global economic slowdown. This is because the economic downturn, instead, encourages, rather than discourage, ASEAN members to cooperate more closely in trade and investment, which helps boost regional economic prospect and overall bargaining power against markets outside the grouping, the minister said.

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