RANONG, 29 April 2011 – The Ministry of Commerce is organizing the Thailand-Myanmar Border Trade Festival in Ranong province until 2 May in an effort to boost trades along the border while expecting over 30 million THB in circulation.
After presiding over the opening ceremony of the “1st Thailand-Myanmar Border Trade Festival: Gateway Grand Sale” in the southern province of Ranong, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Commerce Boonnaris Suwannapool stated that the event was part of the Commerce Ministry’s policy to increase Thailand’s trade value with neighboring countries to one trillion THB within 2012.
The festival kicked off yesterday and will continue until 2 May. It is organized in front of the Ranong Municipality Office and offers customers with a wide variety of quality goods from more than 200 entrepreneurs across the country. Among the products are inexpensive items under the Blue Flag project, such as eggs priced at 90-95 THB per tray, palm oil at 43 THB per bottle and sugar at 21 THB per kilogram. The targeted circulation during the five-day fair is over 30 million THB.
Mr Boonnaris insisted that the Commerce Ministry saw the importance of border trade promotion and had set up special centers for the purpose in border areas. Thailand’s earnings from border trades last year totaled 778.06 billion THB and exceeded 224.88 billion THB during the first three months of this year, or a 16.4 percent rise year-on-year. The Kingdom’s trade with Myanmar was worth 137.86 billion THB last year and more than 35.45 billion THB during the first three months of this year.
