January 24, 2025
BANGKOK – Thailand has signed a free trade agreement with the European Free Trade Association (EFTA), making it the Kingdom’s first FTA with any European nation.
The EFTA comprises four European nations: Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
The signing ceremony was held on Thursday in Switzerland’s Davos as part of the 2025 World Economic Forum annual meeting. Thai PM Paetongtarn Shinawatra, Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan, Swiss Economics Minister Guy Parmelin, and Norwegian Trade and Industry Minister Cecilie Myrseth attended the signing ceremony.
Pichai said that the pact would allow Thailand to expand its trade opportunities with countries in the European Union, adding that the FTA is “another standard of agreement”.
“This shows Thailand is back on the world map,” he said.
The minister said that the nation saw over 1 trillion baht in investment in 2024, and it would tend to increase this year by billions thanks to this FTA.
Thailand needs to have more FTAs to be equivalent to or more than compete with other countries by being exempted from paying taxes, he said.
Many nations are now interested in investing in Thailand’s data centre and AI industry, he added.
According to Pichai, the Thai Commerce Ministry will conduct a public hearing before any regulations are imposed in accordance with this FTA.
Data from the Thai Commerce Ministry indicates that in 2024, Thailand and the EFTA had a total trade valued at US$11.7 billion, or 1.94% of the Kingdom’s total trade with the world. This was a 19.22% expansion over the previous year.
Thailand’s major exports to EFTA include gems and jewellery, watches and seafood, while Thailand’s major imports from the EFTA are meat, medical and pharmaceutical products, and pesticides, according to the ministry.