US-based eBay Inc on Monday announced plans to launch an e-commerce site in Thailand in partnership with the local portal Sanook! to cater to the estimated 16 million internet users in the kingdom.

The agreement gives eBay the opportunity to participate and drive economic growth in the region. Once the site is launched, Thailand will be the 38th market where eBay has a local presence.

"We are pleased to partner with eBay in creating this new ecommerce site which we believe will provide new economic opportunities for the growing online community in Thailand," said Torboon Puangmaha, chief executive officer, Sanook Online Ltd. Thai sellers are among the most active on eBay worldwide," said Dan Neary, vice president of eBay Emerging Markets. "Through this agreement, we are combining our core competency in cross border trade with Sanook's local market expertise," he added.

"We expect the Sanook!eBay web site will quickly become a popular place for people to buy and sell a wide variety of items both within Thailand and internationally," said Torboon Puangmaha, chief executive officer of Sanook Online Limited. Sanook means "fun" in Thai.

Online auction house eBay was founded in 1995 in San Jose, California, and is today one of the world's leading e-commerce portals, incorporating well-known brands such as PayPal, Skype and Shopping.com, among others.