He said educational institutes would play a crucial role to create the new “ecosystem” and help incubate new ideas and new entrepreneurs. Meanwhile Government Saving Bank and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank) have each received Cabinet approval to lend Bt3 billion to SMEs and start-ups, and the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion will knock on the doors of the universities to seek their support.

The Finance Ministry will set up a national centre to register start-ups and form a database of their needs, while the Information and Communications Technology Ministry will focus on grooming technology start-ups.

Big companies that come forward to assist start-ups “in the right way” without “swallowing them” will be offered tax incentives. Laws and regulations will be amended to allow the Bank of Thailand, the Finance Ministry and the Stock Exchange of Thailand to lend more support to start-ups and SMEs.

“In the future, we will see start-ups and smart enterprises in every sector, from manufacturing to services and agriculture. In the near future, we will find a new generation of entrepreneurial farmers,” Somkid said.

The Cabinet will be asked to approve the “One Tambon, One SME Farmer” scheme, in which the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives will play a role, within two weeks. Under the scheme, one farmer from each tambon or subdistrict will be selected to demonstrate his or her best practices in creating value-added farm products such as through processing or packaging farm goods produced by villagers.

Involved ministries and the private sector will jointly hold “Thailand Start-ups Week” from March 24-27 to showcase start-ups from across the nation, as well as inviting experts from abroad to talk at the event.

Yod Chinsupakul, co-founder of Wongnai, a restaurant-search app, told The Nation that Thai laws, particularly those involving capital gains tax and foreign-ownership limitations, were the most important hurdles to development of start-ups in this country.

“The other things are not important. Capital is not a worrying issue since there are plenty of foreign investors willing to invest in start-ups. Technology is also not a worry, since we can use cloud-based infrastructure,” he said.

Many start-ups choose to register their enterprises in Singapore, which does not have a capital gains tax, as they would have to pay that tax in Thailand when they made an exit from their companies, Yod said.

Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maesincee said that to support start-ups and SMEs, three key subcommittees had been set up and would work together from different approaches.

The first subcommittee is in charge for adopting strategies to move start-ups and SMEs forward with long-term policies and visions.

The second subcommittee will focus on enhancing standardisation, productivity, and innovations of start-ups and SMEs.

The third will be responsible for supporting and strengthening start-ups and SMEs to put them in the forefront in moving the Thai economy.

Supant Mongkolsuthree, chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, who heads a working team set up to support SMEs, said small and medium-sized businesses currently contributed about 30 per cent of the country’s gross domestic product.

“We expect to increase the GDP contribution from SMEs to at least 50 per cent in five years,” he said.

Supant said the working team would look for key factors for supporting start-ups and SMEs. Those factors would include how to find potential markets for them and to help them improve efficiency and reduce costs, as well as providing financial support.

Tanawong Areeratchakul, president of SCG Packaging Co and head of a working group set up to promote social enterprises, said the government would provide incentives, including in the areas of taxation and regulation, to encourage big companies to help small entrepreneurs and local communities.

He said there were currently about 1,000 social enterprises in Thailand, but only 200-300 that work actively and systematically.

Bangladesh considers the visit a major development towards establishing direct shipping connectivity with an Asean country, which will increase Bangladesh’s bilateral trade with Thailand and lower cargo-transport costs.

The delegation comprises Suriyan Kanjanasilp, governor of Ranong province, the vice governor, top officials of the port authority and Thai customs and business leaders, Saida Muna Tasneem, Bangladesh’s ambassador in Thailand, said on Sunday.

The team is to hold meetings in Dhaka and Chittagong to explore the feasibility of the coastal shipping deal, she said.

Tasneem, who was in Dhaka to facilitate the meetings, has been playing a vital role in exploring the potential of coastal shipping with Thailand.

Thailand has 17 seaports, including eight deep-sea ports.

Last June, Dhaka and New Delhi signed their first ever coastal-shipping agreement during a visit by Indian |Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the Bangladeshi |capital.

Bangladesh has also initiated talks with neighbouring Myanmar to sign similar kind of deal.

Tasneem said direct shipping links between Chittagong port and Ranong could cut bilateral shipping costs by at least a third and save shipment time compared with the cost of the present route via Singapore.

During the visit, the Thai delegation was to hold an official meeting with the Shipping Ministry today, with A|shoke Madhab Roy, acting shipping secretary, leading the Bangladeshi delegation.

The Thai team will also hold a meeting with the Bangladesh-Thai Chamber of Commerce and Industry and is expected to meet with Shajahan |Khan, shipping minister, and other |high officials of different ministries.

They will also visit Chittagong and meet with the Chittagong Port Authority, and witness how the port is operating and handling cargo.

The issue of coastal shipping links between Bangladesh and Thailand was first discussed last June during the first foreign-office consultations between the two countries.

Bangladesh and Thailand have annual bilateral trade worth US$780 million (more than Bt27 billion). In |2013-14, the value of Bangladesh’s imports from Thailand was $741 million against exports worth $39 million.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said Thailand would open up six of the seven service sectors requested by LDCs, but this would not affect local business operators since foreign investors could not hold more than 49 per cent of these businesses and also had to follow the relevant laws.

The six sectors that will be opened up comprise campsite provisioning, theme parks and other recreational venues, foreign-language schools, vacation and accommodation services, sea freight agents, and freight forwarders.

“The Commerce Ministry held many rounds of discussions with government, private-sector and other stakeholders and decided to grant privileges to six sectors, the exception being computerised reservation services.

“Opening up these markets will not exceed the levels stipulated in current Thai law and won’t affect Thai business operators. We don’t have to amend existing laws and regulations to accommodate the new privileges,” she said.

Off the 48 LDCs listed by the United Nations, 34 are WTO members. They include Bangladesh, Nepal, Myanmar, Haiti, Maldives, and many African countries such as Angola, Chad, Congo, Madagascar, Mali, Mozambique and Uganda.

Nine LDCs that are in the process of accession to the WTO include Bhutan, Cambodia and Laos.

Apiradi said the approval of the provisions would improve LDCs’ access to Thailand’s markets as well as demonstrating Thailand’s role on the WTO stage, which would increase the country’s bargaining power in agricultural, industrial and service trade.

So far 20 countries have agreed to provide special privileges under the WTO to LDCs, including Australia, Canada, South Korea, New Zealand, China and Singapore.

Deputy secretary-general Ajarin Pattanapanchai said many of the world’s leading companies in the electronics and electrical-appliance industries had plans to invest in the Kingdom, including those who already have production bases here and are considering expansion, as well as new investors.

“This comes as a result of new investment-promotion policy and the cluster-promotion scheme that focuses on promoting projects that use advanced technologies and innovations, and those categorised as the ‘industries of the future’,” she said.

Last year the BOI approved 319 projects in the electronics and electrical-appliances sector with a total investment value of Bt116.89 billion.

Activities that comply with the government’s “digital economy” policy include 173 software projects with a total investment of Bt1.37 billion, eight telecommunications-equipment projects with a total investment of Bt17.02 billion, and two cloud-service projects with a combined investment of Bt520 million.

Furthermore, there are major smartphone parts-manufacturing projects. The NMB-Minebea Thai project is to produce lighting devices and parts for smartphone LCD screens valued at Bt3.96 billion, while Fujikura Electronics (Thailand)’s assembly project for flexible printed circuit boards will supply parts for tablets, smartphones and smart watches, valued at Bt2.97 billion.

“There is also Sony Technology (Thailand), which has received [BOI support] to produce smartphones with a total investment of Bt2.2 billion, which is Sony’s first relocation of a production base overseas,” Ajarin said.

In addition, Mitsubishi Electronics Consumer Products (Thailand) will invest Bt10.7 billion in a project to manufacture air-conditioners.

Meanwhile, Ajarin said the BOI had also emphasised the promotion of product designs that go beyond just being an original equipment manufacturer (OEM), for which a Thai company, Silicon Craft Technology, recently won an investment-promotional package.

Although the investment cost is small – about Bt20 million – the company has its own innovation, which is to design microchips for RFID (radio frequency identification) applications such as counting the numbers and following up the growth of livestock herds.

This company has clients in Europe, she said.

The ministry will hold meetings with relevant parties to listen to their opinions on the plan and forward it for Cabinet consideration next month.

The National Legislative Assembly is also expected to consider the Digital Economy Bill next month, according to ICT Minister Uttama Savanayana.

The 20-year digital-economy plan focuses on building a nationwide advanced broadband network, promoting a digital-technology-based economy and society, creating public e-services, developing human resources competent in the digital economy and society, and creating public confidence in the use of digital technology.

The plan features four phases: building digital infrastructure, entering the digital economy and society, full digitisation of the country, and using digital technology to drive Thailand towards being a developed country.

Over the next 18 months the aim is to build up the digital infrastructure, with the ministry targeting the installation of free Wi-Fi services at 10,000 points nationwide.

It also plans to hasten the establishment of broadband fixed-line and wireless access points across the country, double the capacity of the submarine cable network, and promote the opening of at least 10,000 small and medium-sized online shops.

Also approved in the committee’s meeting yesterday was the ministry’s plan to develop national data centres.

Foreigners visiting India with e-tourist visa are likely to be given mobile SIM cards soon with the Home Ministry giving in-principle approval to the proposal for promotion of tourism, sources in the home and tourism ministry said.

The Tourism Ministry’s proposal was discussed by the Foreigners Division of the Home Ministry and given a nod as part of the larger goal of attracting more tourists to India.

“Even though there are issues of security, communication is important for any visitor. Since we are giving e-tourist visa to citizens of a limited number of countries and that too after proper verification, we are giving our approval to the proposal of giving SIM cards to tourists,” a senior Home Ministry official said.

As part of the proposal, the Tourism Ministry is planning to gift a kit comprising a SIM card, maps, booklets and compact disk with information about various tourist destinations, guidelines relating to dos and don’ts and details on who to contact in case of any emergency, among other things.

The e-tourist visa is currently given to citizens of 113 countries, and the government plans to raise it to 150 countries by March 31. Tourists can arrive in 16 designated airports across the country.

Tourist visas on arrival enabled by the Electronic Travel Authorisation, also known as the e-tourist visa scheme, was launched on November 27, 2014.

Under this scheme, an applicant receives an email authorising them to travel to India after it is approved and the tourist can travel with a printout of this authorisation. On arrival, the visitor has to present the authorisation to the immigration authorities.

According to an official estimate, from January to November 2015, a total of 341,683 tourists arrived on e-tourist visas compared to 24,963 during the corresponding period of previous year, growth of 1,269 per cent.

The United Kingdom accounted for 24 per cent of those availing e-tourist visa facilities in November 2015, followed by the United States (16 per cent), Russia (8 per cent), France (7.6 per cent), Germany (5.6 per cent) and Australia (about 5 per cent). Canada had a share of 4.7 per cent, while China’s was 3.3 per cent, Ukraine’s 2 per cent and the Netherlands’ 1.7 per cent.

Win Khaing, a member of National Energy Management Committee (NEMC) and president of Myanmar Engineering Society, said at the 6th Myanmar Oil and Gas Exhibition and Conference last Thursday that Myanmar still had to depend largely on international aid due to the lack of infrastructure and technology.

“Our system is about 60 years old, and we lack government funding to ease losses incurred from power distribution. Such losses mostly occur in Yangon due to its very old distribution network and ageing distribution lines. There is no overnight solution for that. Unless we know the problem, we will not have a solution,” he said.

Win Khaing said the NEMC has been working with the Japanese government to solve the problem, adding that the cooperation mainly focused on building control stations for power losses, knowledge sharing, upgrading transformers and efforts to educate people on the proper use of electricity.

The official also underscored the importance of foreign participation in financing for energy sector development.

“The investment required is massive. The government cannot allocate such large sums from the national budget, so we will need to turn to the private sector. In this regard, the government may seek financing and a provision of guarantees under the World Bank [WB] or the Asian Development Bank [ADB],” he said.

Win Khaing said if lenders, multilateral institutions and the donor community got involved, it would improve the “comfort” of private investors, adding that partnership with lenders would also help the government manage risks.

So far, the WB has been the biggest supporter of Myanmar’s power sector. It has approved a US$540-million interest-free loan for two major projects. One is a $400-million project to bring electricity to 1.2 million households, and the other a $140-million project to install a modern, high-efficiency gas turbine 106-megawatt power plant in Thaton, Mon State.

The two projects are part of plans to expand the existing grid by adding medium and low-voltage distribution networks and providing off-grid electrification with solar and mini-grids in rural areas. The WB also backed the national electrification plan in 2014.

The power sector has also won support from the ADB, which provided $2 million for off-grid electricity to 25 villages.

Japan International Cooperation System has also provided $8.7 million for electrifying 25 villages in Chin and Shan States, while Germany’s KfW development bank provided $9 million for improving electricity in Shan State.

According to the Electric Power Ministry, 23,034 of the 64,917 villages in Myanmar have electricity, though by the end of March another 2,308 villages will have power. Myanmar aims to have boost the number of households with electricity to 75 per cent by 2022 and have electricity available to all citizens by 2030.

In its assessment of the energy sector, the ADB noted that the nation’s per capita electricity consumption is the lowest in Asia and most is generated via hydropower. Electricity is available in 67 per cent of Yangon, Myanmar’s commercial hub, while only 16 of rural areas have power.

Yet, Win Khaing foresaw a promising outlook thanks to Myanmar’s abundant resources, namely hydrocarbon, hydropower, coal, renewable energy and biomass. He said that being a latecomer, Myanmar could take advantage by implementing renewable energy sources, plus energy-efficient technologies in industrial applications and energy storage technologies for local grid networks.