22-08-00 The government is considering a proposal that Thailand conduct counter-trade with oil producing countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and China in purchasing petroleum products from these countries.
The country's private sector has proposed that the government negotiate with ASEAN oil producing countries, including Brunei, Indonesia, and Malaysia for the purchase of oil at friendship prices, or on a counter-trade basis, said the report. The counter-trade, which can also be extended to China, should mainly be focused on exports of Thai agricultural products in exchange for gasoline and other petroleum products from these countries, it added.

The Thai farm exports could include rice, sugar, rubber, and other key commodities. The proposal should be pursued with other measures, namely energy conservation campaigns and calls for major oil producing countries to increase production, to ease difficulties of the Thai public and manufacturers caused by the current oil price hike to a recorded highest level, suggested the private sector. Retail gasoline prices in Thailand have risen by 20 % since the beginning of this year due to a 13 % increase in crude oil prices in the world market and a 5 % decline in the value of Thai baht.
Thai Foreign Minister Surin Pitsuwan has sent a letter to member countries of the ASEAN and the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation (APEC), calling for a joint effort in signalling the OPEC impact of a current oil-price surge on recovering economies in Asia, said the report.
Surin had also held talks with foreign ambassadors in Bangkok to convey the same message concerning the hardship faced by poor countries due to the oil price hike. ASEAN now groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.