Thailand, China, Vietnam to Jointly Set Up Rice PoolThailand, China and Vietnam are planning to jointly establish a rice fund to sell rice of the three countries in the world market, the Thai News Agency (TNA) said on Wednesday.Director-General of the Department of Foreign Trade Krirkrai Jirapaet was quoted as saying after returning from China that China had shown its interest in joining Vietnam and Thailand in setting up the planned rice fund, called Rice Pool, to sell rice to the international market. China was studying details of the initiative and would send a delegation to Thailand in late September or early October to discuss the issue with Vietnamese and Thai delegates, he stated. Krirkrai, who will be the new permanent secretary for the Commerce Ministry as of October 1, said that China's imports of rice from Thailand in the first seven months of this year were slightly lower than the same period of last year due to higher prices and that most Thai rice exports to China in the January-to-July period were jasmine or Hom Mali rice, which is a unique high-quality Thai rice. China also expressed its interest in the progress of Thailand's move to set up a future market for agricultural products, aiming to help address falling prices of Thai farm products in the world market, he noted. Krirkrai visited China between August 21 and 23 to hold talks with Chinese officials. |
| People's Daily Online --- http://www.peopledaily.com.cn/english/ |