Trade Minister, Mark Vaile, today said he would push for increased trade and investment opportunities for Australian businesses in Thailand as he left for high-level meetings in Nakhon Si Thammarat. Mr Vaile will be in Thailand (Nov 16-18) for the Australia Thailand Ministerial Economic Commission (MEC), to be held in the southern city of Nakhon Si Thammarat. He will join Foreign Affairs Minister, Alexander Downer, for discussions with their Thai hosts the Foreign Minister, Dr Surin Pitsuwan, and the Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister, Dr Supachai Panitchpakdi. "I will be raising a range of market access issues with the Thai ministers, and encouraging Thailand to further open its market," Mr Vaile said. "I'm encouraged by the recent Thai decision to reduce tariffs on a wide range of items to meet its ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) commitments. "Thailand, and Australia share a great deal of common international economic interests, such as WTO, Cairns Group, APEC and AFTA-CER. "The MEC is an important bilateral mechanism to advance our foreign and trade policy interests with Thailand," Mr Vaile said. The second MEC is particularly timely, given the considerable change in the regional economic and strategic environment since the first MEC in February 1997 and Thailand's current chairmanship of ASEAN. Mr Vaile will be accompanied by a group of senior business representatives who will make a substantial contribution to the discussion of bilateral economic issues. During his Thai visit Mr Vaile will also meet the Ministers for Industry, Transport and Agriculture for separate discussions. He will also lead the Australian automotive trade mission, which is visiting Thailand during the week of the MEC. He will also open the Thai-Australian Automotive Joint Working Group meeting.
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