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“Our experience suggests that in order to develop the trade and economic relations, we need some agency or a body. We usually call it an intergovernmental commission. In this case it will be a Belarusian-Thai intergovernmental commission,” Vladimir Semashko noted. According to him, if such a commission works on a systematic basis, meets at least once a year and fix problems and settle contradictions, then we will have trade worth hundreds of millions of dollars,” he said.

Vladimir Semashko stressed that Belarus sees Thailand as a serious partner in Southeast Asia. “I looked up the stats and, honestly, our trade does not match the potential. In 2016 it was only $88.9 million. From 2011 to 2014 the trade was growing and made up almost $160 million in 2014. But then it fell twice. This can be explained in part by the global financial crisis and subsequent recession. There are already some positive trends: first quarter saw a 16% increase in the bilateral trade,” the vice prime minister said.

He noted that visits by parliamentary delegations contributed to the intensification of trade and economic relations. “The simplest form is trade. Our countries have complementary economies. You do not have what we have, and vice versa. One of the main articles of our imports are food, rubber. Belarus’ major export to your country is potassium fertilizers. But we can supply different fertilizers: nitrogen and phosphorus and compound fertilizers,” Vladimir Semashko said. According to him, Belarus’ main potential in export is engineering products, electronics and radioelectronics.

“In the Soviet Union Belarus was called an assembly shop. The same is true today in the post-Soviet space,” Vladimir Semashko said. He noted that Belarus is traditionally associated with corporations such as BelAZ, MTZ, the producers of all types of agricultural machinery.

Vladimir Semashko suggested that the two countries do not focus only on simple trade but move toward more sophisticated forms of interaction. “We have experience of cooperation with other countries, including in South-East Asia. This is not just the supply of our products but the establishment of joint ventures to manufacture this or that product. We are ready to go for the maximum level of localization and promote the joint product in the markets,” he said.

He stressed that when Belarus talks about cooperation with Thailand, it also take into account the fact that Thailand is a member of the ASEAN with half of a billion people. “If we come to this market with a joint product, this will benefit our companies and our two countries and peoples,” Vladimir Semashko emphasized.

For his part, Peerasak Pordzhit thanked Vladimir Semashko for the meeting and expressed the confidence in the further strengthening of trade and economic relations between the two countries.