Somkid announced the goal as he presided over the opening of a three-day event to promote the development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).

The event, held by the Industry Ministry’s Department of Industrial Promotion at the Impact Muangthong Thani convention centre in Bangkok, is aimed at showcasing the government’s support for SMEs, which the government says comprise one of the nation’s economic pillars.

Somkid has urged state agencies in the economic sphere and the private sector to join forces to clear the obstacles in the path of Thailand becoming a startup hub.

He has ordered the Industry Ministry to work more closely with other state agencies and state and private banks to drive forward the policies required to strengthen the competitiveness of the country’s SMEs.

Thailand has more than three million SMEs, which employ around 10 million.

Somkid also urged Krungthai Bank and the Small and Medium Enterprise Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank) to develop their Big Data systems and use artificial intelligence (AI) to more efficiently target their lending to smaller ventures. He also urged SMEs to adopt digital technology to enhance their competitiveness.

The government of Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has given to priority to support for SMEs by launching a number of regulatory and financial measures.

The Industry Ministry has joined with state agencies to develop a Big Data resource base for SMEs, enabling the government to better design policies that fit with what these ventures need, Industry Minister Uttama Savanayana said yesterday at the same event.

Somchai Harnhirun, Deputy Minister of the Industry Ministry, said that in order to create more opportunities for SMEs, and aid their digital transformation, the ministry will set up 76 Industry Transformation Centres (ITCs) nationwide. These centres will help the owners of SMEs to improve their products and reach more customers through online channels. This would enable value creation, the minister said.

Somchai said that under the first stage of the plan, the ministry had already set up more than 10 ITCs in a number of provinces, underpinning the goal for the 76 centres to open by the end of this year.

The ministry will also create the concept of an industry village in order to develop value-creation activities in villages and help to provide sales channels to the domestic and international markets, Somchai said at the event.

Furthermore, the ministry will serve as a facilitator behind an online-based business-matching scheme that will connect around 1,600 Thai SMEs with 17,000 of their Japanese peers.

This initiative will help achieve a cluster effect and open up more opportunities for SMEs in both countries, Somchai said.

As part of this plan, the ministry will provide online business matching online between local SMEs and those in up to five other Asean countries. This exercise would create opportunities for SMEs in the global market.

Elsewhere, Somchai said the Industry Promotion Department and International Trade Promotion Department, under the Industry Ministry, would join with Alibaba Business School to train some 500,000 people over the next five years with the skills required for a technology-based workforce. The collaboration will see the development of a digital technology curriculum required for the workers in these new industries.

The ministry expects that in the first year some 10,000 people will be trained. This boost in education would strengthen SMEs in their efforts to provide their products and services on e-commerce platforms, Somchai said. This initiative would help drive the whole economy forward, the deputy minister said.

She said at the launch of the latest Myanmar Economic Monitor on Thursday that the medium term outlook for Myanmar remains positive despite some risks. She expects a surge in foreign investment flows to drive further growth.

“The report shows that Myanmar’s economy is doing better this year, and we hope the country to maintain the momentum,” she said.

“The government needs to ensure the growth is sustainable and inclusive. They need to find ways stimulate growth and investments to ensure financial inclusion.”

Goldstein stressed an urgent need to address the emerging risks that could affect business sentiment and weaken future performance.

“The pick-up in growth and improvement in the macroeconomic situation are encouraging,” she said.

Despite growing global and domestic uncertainty, the growth is estimated to have increased to 6.4 per cent last year from 5.9 per cent in 2016-17 fiscal year. This growth was driven by a recovery in agriculture and especially crop production, improved manufacturing performance, and strong services growth despite a slight slowdown likely due to tourism and banking sector uncertainties, according to the report.

Inflation,which moderated to 5.5 per cent last year from 7 per cent in FY2016-17, is expected to ease further to 4.9 per cent next year.

Goldstein hailed the government’s bid to finalise Myanmar Sustainable Development Plan, which could serve as a platform to make progress in resolving conflicts that jeopardise inclusive and sustained growth.

She warned not to underestimate the value of the plan, as it is a clear direction and motivation for Myanmar people, investors and the international community.

Goldstein urged focusing on two key areas: providing an enabling environment for private sector growth and using fiscal space wisely by spending more effectively to meet urgent needs through investing in infrastructure such as energy and transport, as well as investing in Myanmar people by increasing government expenditures in the education sector.

Hans Anand Beck, the World Bank’s lead economist for Myanmar, said a stable macroeconomic environment and policy certainty would encourage private sector activities. He also stressed the need of well- targeted public investments for the economy to sustain its positive momentum amid intensifying risks.

“Providing and pricing electricity well, implementing the companies act, servicing tax payers, and securing the environment for financial transactions, can help in this regard,” he said.

Domestic downside risks to the baseline outlook have intensified due to the ongoing uncertainty related to the crisis in Rakhine State.

While growing global trade policy uncertainties may affect the recovery in global trade, impacts on Myanmar are likely to be modest, he said.

U Myint, former chief economic adviser to the President, believes the report has dealt with major economic and social issues in Myanmar.

He suggested the World Bank to study on income distribution in Myanmar in the upcoming reports.

“GDP [gross domestic product] could be rising, but if income distribution is unfair and uneven, then benefits of the increase go mostly to a small group of people,” he said.

The report also states that problems with finding skilled labour persist, which U Myint considers brain drain as a challenge that urgently needs to be addressed.

“Our young smart and skilled people are leaving the country because together with old folks like us we are not clear what is going on in the economy and where it is heading,” he said.

He said millions of Myanmar nationals went abroad to make ends meet not only for themselves but more importantly to meet daily living expenses of their family members left back home.

Only economic and social progress would bring them back to the country, he warned.