On 22 August 2022, H.E. Ms. Vimolbajra Ruksakiati, Ambassador of Thailand to Norway, hosted a dinner in the honour of Ms. Trine Lise Sundnes, Member of Parliament and Chair of the delegation to EFTA Parliamentary Committee, Ms. Heidi Nordby Lunde, Member of Parliament and member of the delegation to EFTA Parliamentary Committee, Ms. Åslaug Sem-Jacobsen, Member of Parliament and Head of delegation to the Asia-Europe Parliamentary Partnership (ASEP), and Ms. Margrethe Saxegaard, Senior advisor, International Department of the Parliament, on the occasion of the delegation to EFTA Parliamentary Committee’s scheduled working visit to Thailand in September 2022 to follow up and prepare for the ongoing Thai-EFTA FTA negotiation. The European Free Trade Association (EFTA) is comprised of Norway, Iceland, Switzerland, and Liechtenstein.

 

On this occasion, Ambassador Vimolbajra and the Parliamentary delegation exchanged views on the historical significance of the relations between Thailand and Norway which dated back 117 years ago and the current dynamism of the bilateral relations today. Both sides agreed that Thailand and Norway have great potential and many areas that could be further enhanced such as people-to-people relations, tourism, trade and investment and innovation in the fields of Norwegian expertise such as electric vehicles (EVs) and clean energy.

The Thai-EFTA FTA will be beneficial to promote economic growth, job creation, and people’s welfare as the cost of goods and services traded between Thailand and EFTA will be lower. Moreover, it will stimulate competitiveness among Thai entrepreneurs, especially in the service sector such as medical services and medical tourism, which are Thailand’s expertise. On the investment side, as the EFTA countries have high purchasing power and developed many advanced technologies, it will be good opportunity for Thailand to obtain technology transfer and investment in areas of EFTA’s expertise such as medical technology, EVs, telecommunication, and clean energy.