Thailand trade delegation to get healthy dose of Montana

Thailand’s trade negotiators will have facts about Montana’s high-quality wheat and barley flowing out their ears, if Richard Owen gets his wish.

Team members will begin arriving July 9 for a week-long third round of the U.S.-Thailand Free Trade Agreement. Great Falls was picked as the site at the suggestion of Sen. Max Baucus, D-Mont.

The entourage is made up of about 300 people, 200 to 250 of whom are directly involved in the talks. That’s a nice-sized audience for a pitch about Montana’s grain crop and other products, which is the motivation behind Baucus’ push to land the event.

Owen, the executive vice president of the Montana Grain Growers Association, is ready to take advantage of this unique opportunity.

"We’re hoping to set up tours of farms and our ag-processing business here," he said. "Thailand is not a huge customer for U.S. grain today, but we are naturally set up to sell to them off the West Coast."

By JO DEE BLACK
Tribune Staff Writer

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