Thailand gives HK priority treatment to import Thai rice

HONG KONG, April 24 (Xinhua) -- Hong Kong Secretary for Commerce and Economic Development Frederick Ma was assured by a senior Thai official Thursday that Hong Kong would get priority treatment for importing Thai rice, said a government press release.

According to he press release from the Hong Kong Information Services Department, Ma, who was in Bangkok to attend the 7th APEC Ministerial Meeting on Telecommunications and Information Industry, met with Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Commerce Mingkwan Saengsuwan on Thursday.

During the meeting, Mingkwan said that Thailand exported 9,000,000 tons of rice each year. Though there was a trend that the global demand for Thai rice was increasing, Thailand would not change the amount of its total exports.

Noting the cordial bilateral relationship between Hong Kong and Thailand, Mingkwan pledged that Hong Kong would be given priority treatment to import Thai rice. Hong Kong's import of 300,000 tons of Thai rice per year would basically remain unchanged.

Mingkwan also told Ma that under the new government, there would be a change in Thailand's export policy on fruit. The amount of export of Thai longan, mango and durian in terms of total production would increase from between 20 percent and 30 percent, to about 70 percent.

Mingkwan also pledged that Thailand would give priority treatment to Hong Kong's imports of fruit, and hoped that Thai fruit would be sent to other places in the region through Hong Kong as a distribution center.

Ma ended his two-day trip to Bangkok, and will return to Hong Kong later Thursday, the press release said.