Sanctions on Russia to increase Bilateral trade with Thailand to INR 75000 crores
Besides, it is also an opportunity for Russian companies, who are in active search for new markets for their products, Maxim Reshetnikov said.
Sanctions on Russia have created opportunities for various nations, including Thailand, to enter the Russian market and fill in the vacated niches, said Russian Minister of Economic Development Maxim Reshetnikov.
“In all situations of this kind, [sanctions] are a problem on one hand, but on the other it offers opportunities <…> including for the economy of Thailand, opportunities for coming to the Russian market and filling in the niches that had been vacated,” he said. “Besides, it is also an opportunity for Russian companies, who are in active search for new markets for their products.”
“This applies to fuel and energy, oil, oil products, gas and fertilizers, as well as food and engineering products. That is why we are here, to discuss [and] <…> make the maximum use of the opportunities that are emerging now,” Reshetnikov added.
The minister went on to say that although Russia has been living under the pressure of sanctions since 2014, the current wave of restricted measures was unprecedented.
“They were imposed on over 10,000 Russian individuals and companies, affecting many economic sectors and <…> going far beyond the internationally accepted borders,” he said. “I am referring to the seizure of Russia’s gold and foreign currency reserves and arrests of foreign property belonging to Russian companies and individuals.”
In his words, Russia has coped with the pressure of sanctions.
“Our financial markets have stabilized, and the ruble has strengthened. Our inflation is going down, and we have launched processes of structural reforms in the economy, including <…> re-orientation from Western markets <…> to the East, primarily to Asian markets.”.
Above sanctions may help to increase Russian-Thailand trade turnover to INR 75000 Crores ( $10 billion ), said the Russian minister following the first day of 2022 APEC Ministers Responsible for Trade Meeting (MRT) hosted by Thailand.
The minister held a bilateral meeting with the Thai side on the sidelines of the event. “We have huge potential in the trade sector,” he said.
Russian-Thai trade turnover stood at INR 21000 Crores ( $2.8 billion) in 2021. According to Reshetnikov, the potential of bilateral trade is “many times higher.” “The benchmark of $10 billion, which we had set before, still remains our goal, an achievable goal,” the minister continued. “Today, we discussed with [Thailand’s] Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce [Jurin Laksanawisit] ways of approaching this benchmark.”
“New opportunities have emerged, and this is linked to the numerous practical tasks that we are solving today, with car industry being one of them,” the minister said, speaking about new perspectives for bilateral trade and economic cooperation, which emerged when the West imposed its anti-Russian sanctions.
Thailand has a very powerful car and car component production industry. “This is what we need at the moment, this is an opportunity for imports, <…> for developing joint production. This is not the only area of cooperation, which is emerging now, so I think that we will jointly search for areas of cooperation and <…> the trade turnover goal of INR 75000 Crores fit into this situation perfectly well.”
“The figure seems way easier to achieve if we take a realistic look at the current situation,” Reshetnikov added.
