Bangkok – Vietnam has been urged to join the International Tripartite Rubber Council (ITRC) – currently consisted of Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia.
According to the website of the International Rubber Consortium (IRCo) – the operational arm of the ITRC – the Thai and Vietnamese agriculture ministers met on 23 July to discuss rubber production and Vietnam’s membership of ITRC.
Vietnam’s minister of agriculture and rural development Cac Duc Phat and his Thai counterpart Petipong Pungbun Na Ayudhya met last week where they had a chance to discuss sustainable natural rubber, cooperation and collaboration between Vietnam and the ITRC, said IRCo.
Vietnam has already agreed to cooperate with Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia under the ITRC umbrella.
The country had representation at the ITRC meeting on 1 Apr in Thailand, when the council discussed the establishment of a regional rubber market.
Thailand and Vietnam also had a join trade committee session in mid-July where the Thai Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya reportedly lobbied Vietnam to join IRCO in a bid to stabilise rubber prices.
IRCo was registered in 2004 by Thailand, Indonesia and Malaysia with authorised capital of $225 million.
The three countries produced 8.14 million tonnes of rubber, or 67.5 percent of 12.07 million tonnes globally, last year.
Vietnam was ranked the third-largest natural rubber producer with 953,700 tonnes last year.
