Thailand offers to share agriculture expertise with Qatar

Thailand is ready to provide its expertise in the fields of agriculture and aquaculture, including h…

Thailand is ready to provide its expertise in the fields of agriculture and aquaculture, including hydroponics, to support Qatar's food security programme, ambassador Piroon Laismit has said.

"Because Thailand is an agricultural country, we have an abundance of fruits, livestock and aquaculture products like tilapia, and we are confident in supporting Qatar's food security," Laismit told Gulf Times in an interview.

Citing the challenges in growing food in the Gulf countries, the ambassador said Thailand could share its expertise in hydroponics: "We are ready to share this technology to Qatar if the government is interested."

The bilateral trade volume between Qatar and Thailand amounted to around 4bn in 2014, he recalled.

The envoy was of the view that more needs to be done in terms of bilateral trade. "The value of energy Qatar sell to Thailand is higher than the food commodities that we send to Qatar. Thailand also exported furniture, jewellery, automobiles, and air conditioning units to Qatar, amounting to nearly 400mn in 2014."

"Qatar supports our energy needs because we have a lot of industries that require a lot of energy in the production and manufacturing sectors," the ambassador said.