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Thai
Restaurants Continue To Grow
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The number of
Thai restaurants overseas is believed to be increasing to 20,000 as
targeted by the Ministry of Commerce by 2008, Vice Minister for
Commerce Pimol Srivikorn said recently.
Mr. Pimol said
that in the first half of 2006 alone, there were more than 2,000 Thai
restaurants opened overseas under the government's Thai Kitchens to
the World initiative.
"This
makes the mumber of Thai restaurants overseas now stand at 9,000 and
is expected to increase to 12,000 by the end of this year," he noted.
Mr. Pimol said
he believed that the number of Thai restaurants overseas would expand
to 20,000 by 2008, meeting the official target set earlier by
Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who is also a deputy prime minister.
The minister,
who heads a sub-committee in the Thai Kitchens to the World Project,
is leading a Thai delegation, comprising mostly of nutritionist
lecturers of Kasetsart University and Rajamangala Institute of
Technology, to organize a Thai cookery training course in Denmark's
capital, Copenhagen.
He revealed
that Thai food is very popular in Scandinavian countries, especially
in Denmark, where the number of Thai restaurants had increased to 111.
Mr. Pimol also
sign an agreement with Copenhagen Hospitality College, Denmark's
largest food institute, in whch Thai nutritionists would be sent to
teach Thai cookery at the institute--beginning from late this year.
Mr. Pimol will
then lead the Thai team to organize similar training courses in
Sweden and other Scandinavian countries.
The Thai
government also plans to establish "Thai Town" in Denmark
and other allied countries to promote Thai trade, investment and
other relations with the host countries.
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