Policy paper

Memorandum of Understanding between the UK and Thailand for an Enhanced Trade Partnership

Published 18 September 2024

MEMORANDUM OF UNDERSTANDING (“MoU”)

BETWEEN

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE UNITED KINGDOM OF GREAT BRITAIN AND NORTHERN IRELAND

AND

THE GOVERNMENT OF THE KINGDOM OF THAILAND

FOR AN ENHANCED TRADE PARTNERSHIP (“ETP”)

INTRODUCTION

The Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland (“the UK”) and the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand (“Thailand”) and (hereinafter referred to individually as the “Participant” and jointly as “the Participants”),

Reaffirming their respective rights and obligations under the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Agreements;

Recognising the strong and mutually supportive relationship between trade and investment including the contribution of each to economic growth and sustainable development, and affirming the Participants’ efforts to expanding their co-operation in this area;

Determining to promote more effective co-operation through dialogue, robust exchange of information and action on best practices and lessons learned;

Reaffirming their faith in and ambition towards strengthening a rules-based international trading system;

Decide the following towards the launch of an Enhanced Trade Partnership (“ETP”), which will act as a building-block towards a deeper bilateral trade and investment relationship in the immediate term alongside identifying future opportunities that could be delivered through a potential future UK-Thailand FTA.

I. EXISTING RIGHTS AND OBLIGATIONS

1. The Participants affirm their ambitions under the WTO Agreements and other agreements to which they are a party.

II. ENHANCED TRADE CO-OPERATION

1. Consistently with their commitments under the WTO Agreements, the Participants are to facilitate co-operation and requests made to each other, for sectors and issues set forth in Annex A.

2. Except as otherwise specified in the Annexes, the understanding made in the Annexes will be reviewed annually at the UK-Thailand Joint Economic and Trade Committee (“JETCO”).

III. CONSULTATIONS

1. The Participants are committed to acting in good faith. Any disagreement that arises between the Participants concerning the interpretation or application of this MoU will be settled amicably through consultation or negotiation between the Participants, and will not be referred to any third party, court, or tribunal.

2. If the Participants are unable to decide on a matter arising under this MoU, such dispute will be referred to the Senior Officials Meeting (SOM) in order to find a mutually satisfactory resolution of the matter.

IV. AMENDMENTS

1. This MoU may be amended, varied or altered at any time by mutual written consent of the Participants. Any amendment approved by the Participants will become an integral part of this MoU.

V. STATUS OF THIS MoU

1. This MoU is not an international agreement or treaty and as such does not create legally binding rights or obligations under domestic or international law, but represents the expressions of firm intentions of closer bilateral cooperation between the Participants.

2. Nothing in this MoU will alter or affect any cooperation arrangement under other existing MoU between the Participants.

VI. FINANCIAL ARRANGEMENTS

1. Unless otherwise agreed, each Participant will bear the cost and expenses for its participation in activities under this MoU. The capacity of each Participant to carry out activities under this MoU will be subject to the availability of funds, personnel, and other resources.

VII. INFORMATION SHARING AND CONFIDENTIALITY

1. The Participants recognise that to facilitate the objectives of this MoU, information may pass between them. The sharing of information under this MoU is subject to the following conditions:

(a) The Participants may only use the information for purposes to further the objectives of this MoU.

(b) The Participants may only disclose any part of the information to a third party if the Participant wishing to disclose the information seeks and obtains prior written consent from the other, except in circumstances described in the subparagraph below.

(c) In circumstances where either Participant is legally obliged to disclose any information related to this MoU under applicable legislation, by court order or for another reason, it will inform the other Participant before doing so.

VIII. COMMENCEMENT, TERMINATION AND REVISION

1. This MoU will come into operation on the date of signing and will remain in operation unless terminated by either Participant.

2. Either Participant may terminate this MoU at any time by providing written notice of termination to the other Participant. The termination will take effect 180 calendar days after the date on which either Participant has provided the written notice to the other Participant, or on such a date as the Participants may mutually decide.

3. In the event that this MoU is terminated, such termination will not affect any ongoing activities, unless otherwise mutually decided by the Participants.

The foregoing record represents the understanding reached between the Participants upon the matters referred to herein.

Signed in duplicate at……………….……. on…………….…….in the English language.

For the Government of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland

The Rt Hon Douglas Alexander MP

Minister of State (Minster for Trade Policy and Economic Security), Department for Business and Trade

Signature

Date

For the Government of the Kingdom of Thailand

H.E. Mr Pichai Naripthaphan

Minister of Commerce, Ministry of Commerce

Signature

Date

Annex A: UK-Thailand Enhanced Trade Partnership (ETP)

The UK-Thailand ETP will drive a high-level of ambition in the participants’ bilateral trade relationship and support their shared objective to grow their overall trade to new heights. The participants aim to deepen engagement across the areas set out below. These detail the broad areas of co-operation and are supplemented by a detailed workplan outlining the scope of ambition for delivery between JETCO dialogues over the next 2 years.

1. Automotive

The Participants will strive to make best efforts to increase bilateral trade and investment in the automotive sector. This will be through, though not limited to, partnerships and knowledge sharing in international standards for decarbonisation of road vehicles, cooperate on the area of automotive homologation and testing procedures, the delivery of trade missions and supply chain matching in both countries.

2. Digital

Building on the Letter of Intent on Digital Co-operation signed (15 June 2022) between the UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport, and the Thai Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, the Participants reaffirm their commitment to strengthen digital co-operation via this ETP. The Participants both recognise that with the expansion of the digital economy, digital trade is a key driver of productivity and business growth.

The Participants will seek to continue digital technical exchanges and continue co-operation on digital standards and technologies. The Participants will also seek to continue dialogue, technical exchanges, and practical co-operation, between the British Embassy Bangkok, Ministry of Digital Economy and Society (“MDES”), including the Electronic Transactions Development Agency (“ETDA”). The Participants will seek opportunities to cooperate and actively participate in international fora, including the WTO, to promote the development and adoption of international frameworks for digital trade. The Participants will seek to build upon and expand their bilateral trade and investment promotion activity in digital, technology and cyber.

3. Education

The Participants recognise the opportunity to further their bilateral relationship in the Education sector, including in transnational education collaboration and exchange, the provision of skills qualifications, the development of independent school partnerships, the delivery and recognition framework around English Language proficiency testing, and education technology. The Participants will cooperate in strengthening higher education and Technical Vocation Education and Training (“TVET)”.   

4. Standards

The Participants will strive to deepen collaboration on international standards through a deepening partnership between the British Standards Institute (“BSI”) and Thai Industrial Standards Institute (“TISI”), recognising the important role played by common frameworks and standards in facilitating and deepening their academic, scientific, innovation, trade and business collaboration.     

5. Agriculture, Food and Drink

Building on the UK and Thailand’s underpinning Memorandum of Understanding (‘MoU’) on Agricultural Cooperation between the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives (“MOAC”) and the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (“Defra”), signed (7 February 2023), the Participants reaffirm their commitment to a formal annual Agriculture dialogue between Defra and MOAC supported through regular technical exchanges between relevant agencies.

Recognising the mutual importance of food and drink to both Thailand and the UK, the Participants will strive to deepen co-operation to share best practice in regulation and taxation, and areas important to future trade including animal welfare, reducing the spread of antimicrobial resistance, the control, and surveillance of disease, working to smooth trade through exchange of policy and processes, and cooperate to deliver bilateral trade and investment promotion activity.   

6. Investment

The Participants will further bilateral co-operation on investment to support existing and future investment flows through a sustainable and responsible investment environment.  Alongside this, the participants will strive to facilitate the promotion of best practice, transparency of investment measures and streamlining of administrative procedures. Seeking to consolidate investment relationship, the participants also envisage exploring wider investment co-operation opportunities, such as the possibility to develop a non-legally binding MoU.

7. Technical Barriers to Trade

The Participants recognise that Mutual Recognition Agreements (“MRA”) can be mutually beneficial in lowering export compliance costs and can prevent delays in obtaining overseas regulatory approval, leading to greater certainty of market access, more free trade, and potentially lower import prices. To explore these opportunities, the Participants want to discuss ways to resolve trade barriers related to the conformity assessment of goods in sectors of mutual interest. As a demonstration of this commitment, the Participants have decided to discuss the scope of a potential MRA in relation to conformity assessment.

8. Healthcare

The Participants share common ambitions in advanced healthcare, life-sciences pharmaceuticals, and medical devices. The Participants share a commitment to explore ways of improving global health and will share knowledge in areas of mutual interest, which may include areas such as life sciences regulation and best practice on clinical trials and health technology assessments. Alongside promoting trade between their 2 countries, the Participants will seek collaborative ways to reduce frictions to trade, investment and improve access to healthcare innovation and technology. The Participants will also explore opportunities to further cooperate on pharmaceutical products encompassing topics such as regulatory reliance, regulatory systems strengthening and approvals processes, as well as cooperating in the field of genomics.

9. Customs

The Participants will enhance cooperation between the Thai Customs Department and His Majesty’s Revenue and Customs on customs and trade facilitation by providing an overarching framework for cooperation, operational support and information sharing.

10. Competition, Subsidies and State-Owned Enterprises

Recognising the benefits of reaffirming and building upon multilateral commitments bilaterally, the Participants will explore co-operation provisions on competition, subsidies, and state-owned enterprises to identify mutual values that affirm a shared commitment to promote fair and open competition. This may include sharing best practice on policy approaches, exchanging and sharing technical information and non-binding consultation provisions.  

11. Financial Services

The 2021 UK-Thailand Joint Trade Review identified financial services as an area for further co-operation. The Participants reaffirm their commitment to seek means to collaborate on improving access to finance and the business, trade, and investment environment in financial services through the ETP.  

12. Multilateral

Recognising the continued co-operation between Thailand and the UK to champion and strengthen the rules-based multilateral trading system and uphold free trade at the World Trade Organisation and other international fora, under this Enhanced Trade Partnership, the Participants reaffirm their commitment to co-ordinating closely on multilateral trade and health priorities, best practices, and initiatives.

Further, the Participants will continue to collaborate in attempting to re-establish a fully functioning Dispute Settlement System, revitalise the WTO’s monitoring and deliberative function and improving the day-to-day operations of the WTO bodies. The UK welcomes Thailand’s request for OECD membership and their intention to move closer to OECD standards.

13. Intellectual Property

Recognising that intellectual property-rich and creative industries make a significant contribution to both the UK and Thailand economies, the Participants reaffirm their joint commitment to collaborate further on the protection, enforcement and co-operation on intellectual property issues. The Participants affirm to continue collaboration on the protection of intellectual property rights and enforcement of these rights against online piracy. The British Embassy Bangkok will serve as the intermediary between Thailand’s Ministry of Digital Economy and Society and the Premier League to address illegal streaming websites.

14. Procurement

The Participants reaffirm their longstanding partnership on public procurement through technical collaborations to support transparency, efficiency, and value for money of the Thai public procurement policy and system, including sharing the UK experiences in developing a digital procurement system to increase fairness, competition, and budget savings.

The Participants commit to exploring wider opportunities to deepen their collaboration on areas of mutual interest, such as enhancing the ability of Small and Medium Enterprises (“SME”) to enter the procurement market.

15. Services

The Participants recognise the potential to enhance their relationship on trade in services. The Participants will further their co-operation to facilitate and strengthen bilateral trade in services, including through co-operation on best practice in areas of mutual interest.

16. Trade Remedies

The Participants will seek to increase mutual technical understanding between their respective trade remedies regimes, explore areas of alignment and share best practice.

17. Environment

The Participants recognise the importance of environmental protection, and the transition to a low carbon economy, and the role of trade policy including through facilitating trade and investment in environmental goods and services, and sharing best practices in sustainable resource management and supply chains.

The Participants reaffirm their commitment to the multilateral environment agreements to which both Participants are parties, including the Paris Agreement, and to enhancing climate and environment action via trade policy, and will continue to collaborate on areas of mutual interest.

18. Clean Growth

The Participants will deepen their climate partnership which may include green finance, carbon pricing and transport, helping to secure investment and economic benefits from decarbonising energy systems and supply chains.

19. Labour

The Participants reaffirm their commitment to multilateral labour standards and agreements to which both parties are signatories to, including commitments made through membership of the International Labour Organisation (“ILO”), and will seek to collaborate on areas of mutual interest.

20. Tourism

The Participants will encourage cooperation in the field of tourism with a view to increase the flow of tourists among their respective countries; to promote collaboration between entrepreneurs and responsible authorities; and to develop joint activities in areas of mutual interests.