Thailand Development Research Institute’s vice president Somkiert Tangkijvanich urged the Thai government to establish an institution to follow up the impacts from the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement (JTEA) as a study shows that the country has received benefits both directly and indirectly from the contract much larger than the disadvantages.

He said there are items classified as disadvantage, but collectively the country is at an advantage position.

“The free trade agreement has created a lot of opportunities. What I regretted most is that too many exporters have passed on all those opportunities,” Mr. Somkiert commented.

“We have studied on the issue as well as collected information for quite a long time. I think the government should revise terms and conditions of the agreement, especially on excise tax and customs tax, which will be facilitating Thai exporters of agricultural products.”

For example, under the agreement, Thai exporters of pineapple have to ship the fruit weighted less than 900 gram each to Japan to receive the free trade privilege. Pineapple of the average weight is considered too small comparing to an average pineapple sold at home.