Closer Thais

A move towards closer economic relations between NZ and Thailand was kick-started by Foreign Minister Phil Goff’s talks with his Thai counterpart, Surakiart Sathirathai, in late November. The NZ government has offered Thais aged 18-30 6 month working holiday visas to “promote people-to-people contact at a youth level,” in attempt to correct the current tourist imbalance (60,000 Kiwis visited Thailand last year, while only  8,300 Thais visited NZ). The two countries are also expected to sign a free trade agreement based on the one between NZ and Singapore at next year’s APEC meeting in Chile.