Thailand's commerce minister proposed on Monday that the Thai government barters frozen shrimp to pay for new airplanes to be purchased by the country's national carrier Thai Airways. Commerce Minister Watana Muangsook said that the government of Thailand will propose to the members of the European Union, which produces the Airbus airplanes, to see if there would be a way for Thailand to trade new airplanes for frozen Thai shrimps.

If the EU doesn't agree with Thailand's barter proposal, then Thailand will talk to the United States about trading shrimps with the Boeing corporation, Minister Watana told reporters. Frozen shrimp are a major Thai export item, but Watana couldn't answer the reporters question what Airbus or Boeing would eventually have to do with the tons of frozen Thai shrimps.

Watana's proposal was inspired by a long-existing Cabinet resolution requiring government agencies to try to barter agricultural goods to pay for a portion of items over 300 million baht (US$ 7.6 million). Thailand's Finance Ministry, who is also the major shareholder of Thai Airways, didn't immediately comment on the plan of Minister Watana.

Thai Airways is slated to buy 15 new aircrafts worth 70.78 billion baht (US$ 1.78 billion) of which eight new jetliners from Airbus Industries, and seven used airplanes from Boeing in the United Airlines.

An initial public offering of Thai Airways shares last month reduced the government's stake to 70.6 per cent from 92.9 per cent