The RCEP, led by China, is the largest proposed multilateral free trade agreement in history, involving 16 countries including India and the 10 Asean members.

“Being a part of a mega-trade pact like RCEP will improve Thailand’s position geopolitically, and allow the country to benefit from free trade and mitigate the risks of the trade war hitting Thai exports such as computers, motor vehicles and chemicals,” said the director of the Thailand Development Research Institute (TDRI)’s Economic Intelligence Services (EIS), Kirida Bhaopichitr.

Exports of computer parts and circuits to China fell by 18.4 per cent in October, according to Thailand’s Ministry of Commerce.

Kirida spoke during the “Understanding Industry 4.0: Challenge and Opportunity for True Digital Transformation with Global and Thailand Economic Outlook 2018-2019” held by Deloitte Thailand last week.

Thailand is unlikely to proceed in joining the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for Trans-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), as the trade pact has less weight due to the absence of the US, she added.

Unlike the CPTPP, the RCEP is a more traditional type of trade deal, focusing mainly on reducing tariffs and putting less emphasis on issues such as intellectual property rights and protection.

By joining RCEP, Thailand would make itself part of a mega-trade bloc, giving it more leverage in terms of attracting foreign investment as well as boosting exports, she said.

Other experts agree.

“Thailand should capitalise on this opportunity as the chairman of the Asean summit in 2019 and maximise the potential gains from the trade war,” concurred Pipat Luengnaruemitchai, assistant managing director and head of private wealth management research at Phatra Securities Plc, in an interview on the sidelines of another event last week.

“Although the figures are yet to be shown, I expect a single- digit increase in private investment in the next three to five years as a result of the trade war,” he said.

“Joining RCEP would increase our bargaining power in trade. As the Asean host, Thailand will have a timely opportunity to push for progress in the RCEP negotiations,” he said.

However, he also noted that joining RCEP would bring with it some uncertainty, as the mega-trade deal is propelled by China. Joining it would risk damaging trade relations between Thailand and the US.

Matthew Circosta, an analyst for Moody’s Investors Service (Singapore), also agrees that joining RCEP could help Thailand.

“Joining a mega-trade pact will certainly allow Asean countries to cope with uncertain trade conditions in the upcoming years,” he said last Friday at Moody’s “Inside Asean – Spotlight on Thailand” seminar.

“The trade war will cause a shift in the global supply chain, and Thailand will be negatively affected by this,” he said.

Circosta suggested that new multilateral trade deals may be an opportunity for Thailand to find its place in the shifting global supply chain.

“Asean is an export reliant region that champions free trade. Therefore, not joining such multilateral trade deals like RCEP and the CPTPP will leave Thailand out of the supply chain,” he said.

Almost a third (31 per cent) of companies globally plan to make sustainฌ

ability-related changes to their supply chains over the next three years. Of those making ethical or environmentally sustainable changes to their supply chains, cost efficiencies (84 per cent) and improved revenues and financial performance (also 84 per cent) were the main motivations.

This trend comes as companies face increasing pressure from customers to be more ethical and transparent about their sourcing. With around 80 per cent of a company’s environmental impact found in its supply chain, the “green”

credentials of strategic suppliers and partners are critical factors in a firm’s reputation and performance, said Bryan Pascoe, global head of client coverage, HSBC Global Commercial Banking.

“The cabinet will consider the matter on the normal agenda for the cabinet meeting on December 18, because they need to take the time to consider this issue,” Sompop Pattanariyankool, director of Policy and Strategy Co-ordination Office said after the cabinet meeting yesterday.

He added that the Energy Ministry cannot to disclose the name of the winner until after the Cabinet approval.

The figures are based on the Thai baht at Bt33 per USD, she said.

She added that the council also estimates export growth of 5 per cent in 2019  compared with this year, thanks to the trade war between China and USA being on hold for 90 days.

“If they both can finalise the negotiations and end the trade war, that will be better for the country’s export in the next year,” she said.

It is not an exaggeration to say that we need to keep learning in order to grow, and learning itself doesn’t benefit only ourselves but also our society and the world as a whole.

As human beings, in order to continue developing ourselves and our world, we need to keep learning. This learning can come from our own daily experiences or more deliberately through reading, attending classes or asking questions of others.

Today’s reality is that in an increasingly fast-changing world, the only way to stay relevant is to keep learning. But learning alone cannot create change, and so we must aim towards transformative learning.

According to a study by LinkedIn, “transformative learning is the expansion of consciousness through the transformation of worldview and capacities of the self. It’s an act of changing how we see and do things.”

Transformative learning is beneficial in many ways. As tedious and repetitive tasks get automated, this opens up a new set of jobs for which learning new skills and being able to apply them at work are crucial to the organisation’s growth.

Other benefits include an increase in engagement among people in the organisation, as well as an enhancement of creativity and an inevitable push towards innovation. But learning isn’t always easy and it can sometimes be something on which we tend to procrastinate.

Nonetheless, I know that some people perceive learning as a boring chore. This is why we need to develop a learning mindset. It is a mindset it which we instil lifelong learning and the curiosity about our world today in order to transform ourselves along with our organisations, communities and even the world.

Here are a few ways to nurture and strengthen a learning mindset so you can transform yourself and your organisation towards change.

First, understand that the learning of each individual is different. In order to nurture that learning mindset, understand what is most effective for yourself and your organisation. This will, of course, be difficult especially in large organisations with hundreds or thousands of employees, maybe even spread across the world.

For this, consider blended learning in your organisation. There are so many ways to approach this, depending on the needs of you and your organisation. However, blended learning gives you and your people options for how you want to develop certain skills.

Second, keep in mind that failure means you’re actually learning and using that learning in application. Transformation doesn’t happen when you simply just learn things and keep it to yourself. Real change – whether internal or external – happens only when you apply to your work what you’ve already known and the new things you’ve learnt.

As Morihei Ueshiba, Japanese martial artist and founder of the Japanese martial art of aikido, said: “Failure is the key to success; each mistake teaches us something.”

Third, keep in mind that it is with learning that you can master anything. But in addition to this, understand that this comes with consistency and |practice.

Fourth, seek out feedback. You’ll never know what you’re missing, or doing well at, if you don’t seek feedback. Simply assuming cannot help you transform yourself and it won’t help you progress in your learning.

Sometimes, you may not get the feedback that you’d like to hear, but it doesn’t mean you haven’t learnt anything. It means that you tried but something went wrong somewhere. This is something you’ll never know if you keep to yourself. Feedback also allows you to understand what you’re doing right so that you continue practising and eventually master the skill or subject.

When it comes to transformative learning, the key words are learning and application – you learn new things and you apply them at work. Our world is moving at a rapid pace, and in order to move forward we need to integrate transformative learning into our organisations starting with the right learning mindset. That could help keep you on top of the game at every single opportunity or challenge you may face.

ARINYA TALERNGSRI is chief capability officer and managing director at SEAC (formerly APMGroup), Southeast Asia’s leading executive, leadership and innovation capability development |centre. She can be reached by email at arinya_t@seasiacenter.com or https://www.linkedin.com/in/arinya-talerngsri-53b81aa

“The Consumer Price Index [CPI] for November has increased by 0.94 per cent year on year, marking the 17th month of consecutive increase in consumer prices,” said the director-general of the ministry’s Trade Policy and Strategy Office, Pimchanok Vonkorpon, yesterday during a press conference.

“These figures indicate that consumer spending remains at a satisfactory level,” she stated, “particularly, the price of durable goods, which increased from 24.1 per cent to 24.3 per cent, growing month on month in November,” according to Pimchanok. “If the 1.2-per-cent target is reached, it will mark the highest inflation level for Thailand in the past four years,” she said.

However, she noted that the CPI figures in November were still considered relatively low, and it was the third consecutive month to see a decline in the CPI growth rate. Month on month, the CPI figures decreased by 0.22 per cent.

“The key reason for the decrease in CPI growth is the recent fall in oil prices,” Pimchanok said.

Meanwhile, the ministry has set the inflation target for the first quarter of 2019 at 1.2 per cent.

“We expect the CPI growth rate to stabilise in 2019, leading us to predict that the first quarter of 2019 will also see a 1.2 per cent increase in consumer prices. This is if the prices of oil and agricultural goods remain stable,” Pimchanok explained. Regionally, Bangkok and its surrounding provinces had the highest CPI figures in November, climbing up to a 1.14 per cent increase year on year. Next was the Central region at 0.99 per cent. The Northwest and South experienced a consumer price increase of 0.92 and 0.88 per cent respectively. The North experienced no price increase.

The watchdog will kick off the new year by holding an auction of the 700MHz band, totalling 2x45MHz of bandwidth.

Part of the proceeds will be used to continue the NBTC’s subsidy of the digital TV broadcasters’ cost of transmitting their programmes through satellite networks.

The NBTC wants to extend this subsidiary period to 2022 after the current subsidy period ends next year.

The NBTC will also use its own funds to continue to subsidise half of the broadcasting network rental fees of digital TV licence holders to 2022 from the current 2020 ending.

All these measures will help ease the financial difficulties of broadcasters, said Takorn Tantasith, the NBTC secretary-general. Takorn said this 700MHz band could be divided into three licences of 10MHz, 15MHz and 20MHz.

Currently, the digital TV licence holders use the 700MHz bandwidth to air their programmes. The watchdog will switch them to 470MHz instead. The broadcasters and related parties will be compensated for the impact of the switch.

The watchdog has planned to auction the new spectra on a multiple-band basis. Therefore, it might put the 700MHz to auction alone, or auction the band together with other bands.

The 700 MHz band could be auctioned along with 26GHz, and the 1800 band with 28GHz, Takorn added.

As for the telecom industry, the NBTC will revise the terms of payment for 1800MHz and 900MHz, which were recently auctioned, to help ease the burden on the operators.

It will also revise the terms and conditions and prices of the spectrum bands for which it plans to call bids next year.

The moves are intended to create inducements for telecom operators to take part in the new auctions. This will help them get the 5G service off the ground in 2020 as targeted by the NBTC, said Takorn.

The NBTC has planned to divide the 5G licences between nationwide licences and special location licences.

The watchdog will this month set up a working panel to reclaim the 2600MHz spectra from Thai state-owned public broadcaster MCOT before the spectrum expiration date. The panel will finish details of the plan within the month before sending it on to MCOT.