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The Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development, Mr Frederick Ma, who was in Bangkok to attend the 7th APEC Ministerial Meeting on Telecommunications and Information Industry, today (April 24) called on Thailand's Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce, Mr Mingkwan Saengsuwan.
Mr Ma was assured that Hong Kong would get priority treatment for importing Thai rice.
At the meeting, Mr Mingkwan said that Thailand exported 9,000,000 tonnes of rice each year. Though there was a trend that the global demand for Thai rice was increasing, Thailand would not change the amount of its total exports. Noting the cordial bilateral relationship between Hong Kong and Thailand, Mr Mingkwan pledged that Hong Kong would be given priority treatment to import Thai rice. Hong Kong's import of 300,000 tonnes of Thai rice per year would basically remain unchanged.
Mr Mingkwan also told Mr Ma that under the new government, there would be a change in Thailand's export policy on fruit. The amount of export of Thai longan, mango and durian in terms of total production would increase from between 20% and 30%, to about 70%.
Mr Mingkwan also pledged that Thailand would give priority treatment to Hong Kong's imports of fruit, and hoped that Thai fruit would be sent to other places in the region through Hong Kong as a distribution centre. Mr Ma said he would convey the message to the trade in Hong Kong.
Mr Ma ended his two-day trip to Bangkok, and will return to Hong Kong later today.
Ends/Thursday, April 24, 2008
Issued at HKT 21:02
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