§ 10. Mr. HealdTo ask the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs if he will make a statement on UK relations with Thailand, including trade and investment. [30904]
§ Mr. BaldryRelations are excellent. Trade and investment are thriving. Our visible exports to Thailand last year were up 14 per cent. at £746 million. We are the leading European investor and the fifth largest overall. Contacts between our countries are extensive. My right hon. Friend the Member for Eddisbury (Mr. Goodlad) visited Thailand at the end of May to underline the progress in bilateral relations and to mark the reopening of a British consulate in Chiang Mai.
§ Mr. HealdGiven the huge potential for trade and investment in all quadrangle countries, but particularly Thailand, will my hon. Friend give more details on the purposes of reopening the trade consulate at Chiang Mai and the objectives of that consulate? Does he feel that there is now adequate trade representation in that region?
§ Mr. BaldryHelping British companies to win business overseas is the Foreign Office's single largest activity overseas. The Chiang Mai consulate will reopen as a trade-focused mission, and forms part of a worldwide strengthening of our commercial effort. The decision to reopen that post is a reflection of our growing commercial interests in Thailand, which have more than quadrupled in the past decade. Visible exports are now worth nearly £750 million a year, and it is for that reason that we have opened the new trade office which, it is hoped, will expand business into northern Thailand, a region of great economic potential.