Thailand, Malaysia to meet Wednesday over shrimp ban

Agriculture Minister Suriya Juangroongruangkit said today that he will travel to Kuala Lumpur on Wednesday to meet his Malaysian counterpart in an effort to resolve the trade dispute over Thai shrimp exports to Malaysia and Malaysian sea bass imports to Thailand.

Suriya said his ministry had received a response from Malaysia's agriculture ministry agreeing to hold talks on the issue. The discussions will focus on Malaysia's ban on imports of five species of shrimp from Thailand, which took effect on June 1. Malaysian authorities cited food safety concerns as the reason for the ban.

The ban is widely believed to be a retaliatory measure after Thailand's Department of Fisheries tightened health inspections of sea bass imported from Malaysia, citing the detection of chemical residues in some shipments.

Thai shrimp farmers have called on the government to help resolve the dispute.

Suriya said today that his ministry will do its utmost to resolve the issue, protect shrimp farmers and businesses throughout the supply chain, safeguard the competitiveness of Thailand's shrimp industry, and strengthen agricultural cooperation between Thailand and Malaysia.

He added that Thailand is prepared to revise its health screening process for Malaysian sea bass by introducing new technology to speed up inspections, expressing hope that the move will benefit both countries and help bring the dispute to an end.