High-level push helps move talks forward<\/p>\n
Suphajee said she had been informed by Thailand\u2019s chief negotiator that the latest round had made strong progress because of political support from high-level discussions between the two sides.<\/p>\n
On June 24 in Brussels, Suphajee and Thai Trade Representative Werapong Prapha held talks with:<\/p>\n
\n\tMaros Sefcovic, European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security;
\n\tChristophe Hansen, European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food.
<\/p>\n
\u201cI was informed by the head of the Thai negotiating team that this round made major progress because of political support from high-level discussions between the two sides on June 24 in Brussels,\u201d Suphajee said.<\/p>\n
\u201cDuring the talks, I and Thai Trade Representative Werapong Prapha met the European Commissioner for Trade and Economic Security, Maros Sefcovic, and the European Commissioner for Agriculture and Food, Christophe Hansen.<\/p>\n
\u201cMinisters from both sides reaffirmed their shared intention to accelerate the Thailand-EU FTA negotiations so they can be concluded as soon as possible. They also instructed the chief negotiators to quickly prepare a joint work plan and to hold close discussions on outstanding issues,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n
\nThailand prepares for round 10<\/p>\n
The Commerce Ministry, through the Department of Trade Negotiations, will next convene a working group to drive the Thailand-EU FTA talks. The group is chaired by the deputy prime minister and commerce minister.<\/p>\n
The meeting will bring together relevant agencies to discuss key unresolved issues in each negotiating area.<\/p>\n
Both sides will also hold intersessional talks at several levels:<\/p>\n
\n\tbetween chief negotiators;
\n\twithin individual negotiating groups;
\n\tat ministerial level.
<\/p>\n
Sefcovic is expected to visit Thailand before the tenth round of negotiations to follow up on progress and help push the talks forward.<\/p>\n
The tenth round is scheduled to take place in Thailand in late September 2026. Both sides aim to make maximum progress and reach a conclusion as soon as possible, in line with the target set by ministers from Thailand and the EU.<\/p>\n
For Thailand and the EU, the FTA is part of a wider strategy to:<\/p>\n
\n\tupgrade economic relations;
\n\texpand trade and investment opportunities on the basis of mutual benefit;
\n\tprotect competitiveness;
\n\tstrengthen cooperation on sustainable development;
\n\trespond to geopolitical tensions and global geo-economic volatility.
<\/p>\n
\nEU remains Thailand\u2019s fourth-largest trading partner<\/p>\n
In 2025, the EU was Thailand\u2019s fourth-largest trading partner after China, the United States and Japan.<\/p>\n
Two-way trade between Thailand and the EU was valued at US$45.03 billion, up 3.44% from the previous year.<\/p>\n
Thai exports to the EU were worth US$26.45 billion, up 9.27%. Major export items included:<\/p>\n
computers, equipment and components;<\/p>\n
\n\tgems and jewellery;
\n\tair conditioners and parts;
\n\trubber products;
\n\telectrical transformers and components.
<\/p>\n
Imports from the EU were valued at US$18.58 billion, down 3.86%. Key imports included:<\/p>\n
\n\tmachinery and parts;
\n\tmedical and pharmaceutical products;
\n\tchemicals;
\n\telectrical machinery and components;
\n\tscientific and medical instruments.
<\/p>\n
Thailand recorded a trade surplus with the EU of US$7.86 billion.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"High-level push helps move talks forward Suphajee said she had been informed by Thailand\u2019s chief negotiator that the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":123719,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[104],"tags":[211,2574,210,44624,327,60824,60823,60825,240],"class_list":["post-123718","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brussels","tag-belgium","tag-breaking-news","tag-brussels","tag-commerce-ministry","tag-eu","tag-fta-talks","tag-suphajee-suthumpun","tag-thai-eu-relations","tag-trade"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@dk\/116875151722247103","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123718","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=123718"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/123718\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/123719"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=123718"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=123718"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/dk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=123718"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}