Somkid, in a speech at the Belt and Road Summit in Hong Kong yesterday, was referring to the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) and the Greater Bay Area (GBA).

He said that Thailand would act as a coordinator between the Southeast Asian-focused ACMECS and the GBA, which promotes economic integration between Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong province in southern China

After discussions with Hong Kong Chief Executive Carrie Lam, Somkid request that Hong Kong push for a mechanism to coordinate linkages between the two groupings for the strategic development of both initiatives.

With a population of about 230 million, with 130 million workers, ACMECS is a political, economic, and cultural cooperative grouping that brings together Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar, as well as the key market and supply chains in Asia.

GBA, with its promotion of economic integration between Hong Kong, Macau and Guangdong, seeks to highlight the area as a gateway for Chinese companies looking to expand their business overseas. The area has a combined gross domestic product of US$1.34 trillion.

In contrast, New York in the United States has an economy of US$1.61 trillion and that of Greater Tokyo in Japan amounts to US$1.78 trillion.

China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) has helped to ease global trade concerns and has become an effective strategy at a time when the Asian economy is growing strongly, Somkid said.

In relation to the BRI, Thailand has been cooperating with China on proposed high-speed train projects and has expedited construction of double-track railway in parallel with high-speed train routes from the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) to Laos, Cambodia and Myanmar for transport of people and products, he said.

In the future, trade, investment and tourism linkages between Asean countries and China will be increased and more roads would be constructed for routes taking in Myanmar, Laos and southern China, with another route to Myanmar, India and Bangladesh.

“Seamless connection of transport routes is the key to BRI,” Somkid said. “Meanwhile, in the future, digital linkage is no less important. Now, Thailand has accelerated its investment in an underwater cable to link with Hong Kong for Internet connections with its neighbouring countries, China and China’s Greater Bay Area to cope with China’s Internet Plus.”

Sompop Manarungsan, president of the Panyapiwat Institute of Management, said that the GBA is a very important economic area of what he calls “New China”.

China has used Hong Kong’s financial centre and Macau’s financial liberalisation system for smooth investment and business operations, he said.

The GBA, full of startups and technology firms, seems like China’s Silicon Valley and is the most important area of China now, he said.

“This area not only acts as a large financial centre linking investment among China’s southern areas, but also connects investment flows from China and other regions,” Sompop said.

“Thai government officials, in their visit to this area, should find opportunities to make investment linkages with companies in the area and invite them to make investments in Thailand.”

Elsewhere, the US-Asean Business Council (USABC) says its stands ready to become a partner to push for the advancement of the Thailand 4.0 policy and digital economy strategy, while supporting Thailand’s reform in laws and regulations that facilitate doing business in the country. Members of the council visited Thailand from June 26-28.

The USABC representatives who met Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha on their visit came from 39 companies in six major industries: energy and infrastructure; information, communication and technology; health and bio science; food and agriculture; manufacturing and tax; and financial services. The companies included Google, Netflix, American Express, Citi, Harley-Davidson, 3M, Ford, Microsoft, AIG, Chevron and eBay.

USABC president Alexander Feldman said, after meeting Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan yesterday, that US investors are keen to increase investments in Thailand, especially in the EEC.

He added that the council members visiting Thailand this week expressed confidence that Thailand’s economy would continue to grow strongly.