Despite the Covid-19 pandemic preventing travel between countries, Australia and Thailand have continued our dialogue on agriculture, ranging from agricultural policies and cooperation to how to enable increased trade in agricultural products for the benefit of both countries. Two-way trade of agricultural products between our two countries was worth $A 2.26 billion in 2019.
For the first time, bilateral meetings on agriculture between Thailand and Australia were held virtually in September 2020; the 16th Meeting of the Expert Group on Sanitary and Phytosanitary Measures and Food Standards and the 20th Meeting of Working Group on Agriculture.
The Australian Minister Counsellor (Agriculture) to Thailand joined the meeting in person with other Thai officials in Bangkok. Likewise, the Thai Minister Counsellor (Agriculture) joined the meeting with Australian officials in Canberra.
This virtual meetings amidst the crisis reiterated that the relationship between Thailand and Australia remains strong and we hope that we can have a normal meeting in 2021.
