The government is revving up efforts to tackle hurdles to border trade as it aims to achieve 1.5 trillion baht worth of cross-border business this year.
Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn, who chaired a panel handling border trade and investment promotion, said the priority is to facilitate trade, particularly with Malaysia, which contributes up to 50% of annual border trade value.
Mrs Apiradi said all related state agencies including the Interior Ministry, Transport Ministry, Agriculture Ministry and Finance Ministry need to meet and deal with short-term issues such as a duty-free zone, possible expansion of border checkpoints' service hours, and service points for value-added return.
The value of border trade between Thailand and its four neighbours in 2014 was 988 billion baht, up 6.87% year-on-year, reported the Foreign Trade Department.
Border trade with Malaysia made up 508 billion baht, or 51.4% of the total value, while Myanmar amounted to 214 billion, Laos 151 billion and Cambodia 115 billion. Thailand's exports made up 590 billion baht, up 5.26% from 2013.
For the first seven months this year, border trade increased only 1.71% to 570 billion baht. Exports totalled 337 billion, down 1.26% year-on-year.
Border trade with Malaysia between January and July was worth 273 billion baht, down 7.16% year-on-year. Thailand's exports fetched 145 billion baht, down 9.52%.
Mrs Apiradi said the government was looking to jointly develop a halal park with Malaysia over the longer term.
"With the Asean Economic Community approaching, we underlined the need for closer cooperation from related state agencies to achieve our policy goals," she said.