- Vietnam praises its strong, model bilateral cooperation with Thailand.
- Ambassador highlights robust trade ties and scope for deeper collaboration.
- Vietnam urges fair, transparent anti-dumping reviews to support its exports.
Vietnam places great importance on its strengthening bilateral cooperation framework with Thailand, which has emerged as a standard for the strong relationship between the two nations, a Vietnamese diplomat has stated. During Thailand's ninth Trade Policy Review in Geneva, Ambassador Mai Phan Dung, Vietnam’s Permanent Representative to the UN, the World Trade Organization, and other international entities, characterized the bilateral trade relationship between the two nations as one of the most effective economic collaboration examples within the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Leveraging robust political trust and vibrant trade exchanges, both parties have shown that regional collaboration is essential for mutual prosperity. Vietnam, he stated, anticipates enhancing cooperation with Thailand to maximize free trade agreements and other current collaborative frameworks for the advantage of enterprises and individuals. The Vietnamese diplomat praised Thailand for sustaining its position as an upper-middle-income economy and one of Asia’s largest, with a GDP of nearly 526 billion USD and its trade-to-GDP ratio increasing from approximately 98% in 2020 to about 137% in 2024, indicating the nation’s strong integration into global markets.
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Foreign direct investment (FDI) remains crucial to Thailand’s economy. In 2024, the nation drew in over 10 billion USD in foreign investments, amounting to almost 2% of GDP. Thailand's FDI stock increased by roughly 20% to nearly 353 billion USD, accounting for about 67% of GDP, mainly in manufacturing and financial services. Outward investment has also grown, notably in Vietnam, especially in sectors such as manufacturing, finance, insurance, and wholesale and retail trade.
Regarding trade remedies, the ambassador highlighted Thailand’s use of anti-dumping measures on steel products aimed at exporters in the Asian area. Vietnam expressed hope that Thailand will conduct objective and transparent investigations, adhere fully to the WTO Anti-Dumping Agreement, and contemplate lifting these measures to promote Vietnamese exports.