Thailand turns to Mekong neighbours to diversify exports

Bangkok

THAI policymakers searching for ways to reverse a slump in exports may have found a solution close to home - a US$170 billion market just over the border that's growing by more than 6 per cent a year.

As shipments to China, Europe and the US slow, Thailand's government is crafting a strategy to deepen links with Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, an economic bloc known as the CLMV whose population of about 240 million people would make it the world's fifth-largest if it were a country.