Anucha Nakasai, the Deputy Agriculture and Cooperatives Minister, told a Colombo, Sri Lanka meeting of the Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) that Thailand is willing to help realise FAO’s goals.

Those goals include revolutionising the agriculture and food industry to ensure sustainable operations, decent nutrition among community members, and sustainable management of natural resources to preserve biodiversity and support the climate change operations, Anucha said.

FAO director-general Qu Dongyu meanwhile praised Thailand for being a good example in food and agricultural management in the region, and expressed hope that the Kingdom would continue to exchange agricultural known-how with FAO members.

Anucha led the Thai delegation to participate in the FAO’s 37th Session of the Regional Conference for Asia and the Pacific (APRC37), which is taking place from February 19-22.

Anucha on Wednesday told the meeting that, “Thailand has aggressively negotiated free-trade agreements with countries in the Asia-Pacific region, including Sri Lanka, covering agricultural product trading, service trading, investments, as well as discussed rules of origen, technical and legal obstacles, and cooperation in several aspects.”

These agreements would help boost Thailand’s GDP expansion by 0.02%, or around US$80 million (2.86 billion baht), he added.

Thailand’s trade with Sri Lanka in 2023 amounted to US$413.3 million or 14.8 billion baht, with key exports to Sri Lanka including gems and jewellery, oil, rubber, fabrics, and chemicals.