19 September 2004	Sunday	03 Shaban 1425

KARACHI, Sept 18: Thai Trade Minister Prachuab Chaiyasan on Saturday said Pakistan and Thailand would set up a joint study team to identify areas of close cooperation for improving bilateral trade between the two countries.

Heading a 22-member Thai delegation, the minister said the objective of the visit was to find ways for developing close relation and enhancing bilateral trade.

Talking to reporters at the Export Promotion Bureau, the Thai minister said that things could even mature to a level of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) as was the case between Pakistan and China.

However, he said that only time will tell what would be the best solution for achieving a high-level bilateral trade between the two countries because it was not always necessary to enter into any written agreements for getting better and meaningful results.

Mr Chaiyasan said that when bilateral relations between the two countries were good and there was a close contact between the two governments, the private sector of both the countries could come closer.

A first step towards this direction has already been taken as a trade delegation from Lahore is expected to leave on Sunday for Thailand and similarly, another official delegation of the government of Punjab will be paying a visit next month.

The minister said that his country could help Pakistan in developing industrial estates on modern lines. He said Thailand could also provide technological assistance in power generation through gas because in his country about 70 per cent of power was being generated from gas. The Thai minister said Pakistan had great potential in gas production which could be used for electricity generation.

"In Thailand, we are following an industrial policy which could promote our exports." But the entire policy, he said, was based on the promotion of the agriculture sector at grassroots level. "We have combined local vision along with advance technology so that local people could get chance to enter into export business."

He said by doing so "we have succeeded in the distribution of wealth to grassroots level as we also ensure that 'one village one product' which helped a lot to bring prosperity to villages."

The minister said he did not believe in multilateral agreements which were no more than a forum where speeches were delivered and time was wasted. He recommended that bilateral cooperation should be taken seriously to get some tangible results.

He said there was a great opportunity for the promotion of Pakistani products in Thailand. He said around 15 trade fairs were held every year in Thailand and suggested that Pakistani manufacturers and exporters should participate in the fairs.