He added that the country is collaborating with Asean nations to develop air, land, and sea routes to boost regional economic growth .

Currently, Asean’s economy ranks fifth in the world.

After meeting China’s State Councillor Wang Yong in Beijing on Wednesday, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak revealed details of a high-level joint commission meeting in August between Thai and Chinese officials under which they agreed to upgrade economic cooperation in matters extending from trade, manufacturing and investment to communications technology and finance.

The Chinese government has agreed in principle with the proposal and is ready to sign a cooperation agreement at a future meeting, Somkid said.

“Thailand is the first nation to have this kind of economic cooperation with China in all aspects, upgrading the strategic cooperation from the earlier five-year plan which is about to end,” he said.

Somkid said that China was asked to join Thailand, as a centre for Asean and the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) grouping, to help develop these regions for further Thailand-China cooperation that draws on the particular engagement of 11 of China’s provinces. ACMECS is a political, economic and cultural organisation that encompasses Thailand, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia and Myanmar.

Somkid proposed a formal cooperative mechanism between Thailand and Chinese provinces in the booming Pan Pearl River Delta (PPRD) region in the country’s south.

The mechanism could start from three to four provinces based around close cooperation with Thailand. At least one meeting with Thailand is proposed.

This mechanism could forge in-depth economic cooperation among the two countries and create connections between China’s One Belt, One Road scheme and the countries of Asean and ACMECS, Somkid said.

Somkid said that Thailand has also asked China to further promote Thailand as a tourism destination for Chinese, telling the Chinese State Councillor that “the Ministry of Tourism and Sports, the Tourism Authority of Thailand and Tourist Police Bureau will be well-prepared to facilitate and provide safety for Chinese tourists”.

During the Beijing visit, Somkid had discussions with representatives of tyre producer Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire and Alibaba’s artificial intelligence (AI) startup Megvii Technology.

The Prinx Chengshan (Shandong) Tire executives said that the company will make a first-phase investment of about Bt10 billion in Chon Buri province, in the heart of the Eastern Economic Corridor, and a second-phase investment of about Bt10 billion. Megvii Technology, which specialises in AI, smart cities and safety systems, wants to use Thailand as its manufacturing base for the region.

“We are confident that private firms from China will expand their investments in Thailand, as China’s government has a policy to support its corporates’ expanding their investments overseas,” Somkid said. Thailand is one of the potential countries for Chinese companies to expand their investments.”

He said that, given China’s trade conflict with the US, now is the time for Chinese firms to expand their investment abroad, especially in Southeast Asia.

“We expect that China firms will expand their investments in Thailand, especially in the Eastern Economic Corridor, by focussing on 5G technology. This is a new technology that will move the country forward to Thailand 4.0,” Somkid said, referring to the government’s technology vision for the country.

“The price of fragrant Thai Hom Mali rice has risen fast between Bt16,000 and Bt17,000 per tonne of paddy rice. We expect total rice exports to reach 11 million tonnes this year,” Sonthirat Sonthijirawong said yesterday.

His comments came after a meeting with 160 rice importers from 28 countries. He expected rice importers to place orders worth about Bt1.5 billion this year and Bt30 billion next year. The Commerce Ministry has invited rice importers to meet Thailand’s counterparts, as the ministry tries to push exports. Key markets include China, Hong Kong, Canada, United States, Europe, Africa, Middle East and Asean countries.

As of September, total rice exports increased to 8.12 million tonnes worth US$4.1 billion (Bt135 billion), up 14.13 per cent from the same period last year. Large markets this year include Benin, the US, Indonesia, China and the Philippines. Hom Mali rice accounted for 45 per cent of rice exports, white rice 25 per cent and processed rice 3 per cent.

“The business matching is aimed at expanding rice and related rice products to the global market and to shore up the rice price during the beginning of the harvest season. We expect foreign buyers to place orders worth Bt1.5 billion this year and Bt30 billion next year,” Sonthirat said. He said on average the price of Hom Mali rice this year is about Bt16,000 to Bt17,000 per tonne of paddy rice, and in some areas the price has gone up to Bt18,000 per tonne. The price of Hom Mali rice last year was about Bt9,000 to Bt10,000 per tonne.

Charoen Laothamatas, president of Thai Rice Exporters Association, said the lower production of Hom Mali rice due to drought in key areas such as Nakhon Ratchasima, Surin and Si Saket provinces played a key role in pushing the price up this year. The price of Hom Mali rice in the global market is currently about US$1,100 (Bt36,000) free on board compared with the normal white rice’s $390 per tonne. The price of white rice increased only slightly to Bt7,500 to Bt8,000 per tonne from Bt7,300 to Bt7,800 last in the same period last year, Charoen said.

“It is hard to predict the price in the future, as it depends on the demand and supply situation,” he said.

Thai rice exporters and importers yesterday signed four memoranda of understanding to buy 93,000 tonnes of rice: 759 Store from Hong Kong agreed to buy 10,000 tonnes of Hom Mali and 4,000 tonnes of Pathum Thani fragrant rice to distribute via its 224 supermarkets in Hong Kong; Everflowing Fortune Trading Inc from the Philippines agreed to buy 70,000 tonnes of white rice and 5,000 tonnes of Hom Mali rice; Guangdong Youliang Grain and Oil Industrial Co, a China-based company, agreed to purchase Hom Mali GI and organic Hom Mali totalling 4,000 tonnes.

Looking ahead, the price of Hom Mali rice could rise further and it would also push up the price of white rice, said Sakon Varanuwatana, vice minister for Commerce.

He said foreign buyers have high confidence in the quality of Thai rice, as Vietnam, Thailand’s main competitor, was hit by floods this year.

Farmers unlikely to benefit

Viroj na Ranong, an economist at the Thailand Development Research Institute, however, was cautious about the rise in the price of rice. The current Hom Mali price is not high when compared with the Bt20,000 per tonne due to heavy price intervention by the Yingluck Shinawatra administration. Moreover, the global market for Hom Mali rice is small and the price could swing widely when supply changes a bit, he said. He did not think farmers, most of them in the Northeast, would benefit much from the rise in the Hom Mali price, as they are small landholding farmers. The rice market is very competitive as many countries can grow this staple crop, and Thai farmers – especially those who grow Hom Mali rice – have low income, he said.

Apart from rice, cassava is also seeing rising prices, as production in Cambodia was hit by the outbreak of a disease. The prices of most farm products, including rubber and palm oil are low.

Sontaya Kunplome, Pattaya mayor, said the beach town with diversity and consistent growth of economy has natural attractions, places of business, hotels and shopping centres that offer the potential to serve large-scale conventions, trade shows and exhibitions. Pattaya has formulated the strategy for the development of Pattaya as “MICE City”.

Pattaya is considered a city with the highest number of TMVS-certified entrepreneurs, with 25 convention rooms and one exhibition venue.

“In the next five years, with the help of fintech, there will be a democratisation of financial services, meaning that the capital markets will be more accessible to the population than ever before,” the secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Rapee Sucharitakul, said yesterday at an industry event.

Only around three million Thais have financial accounts in the capital market, equating to a fraction of the total population. However, the increasing prevalence of fintech will bring more Thai people into the capital market, Rapee told those attending Fintech Challenge 2018: The Discovery.

The event was co-organised by the SEC and the Fintech Association of Thailand to discuss trends in the financial markets and the prospects for fintech startups. The event also featured the final round of the Fintech Challenge 2018:The Discovery competition in which 12 startups competed for a total prize pool of Bt400,000.

“In the next five years, we expect to see an increase in clients within Thailand’s capital market from seven to eight digits, from 3 million to at least 10 million,” said the co-founder of fintech startup Finnomena, Jesseda Sookdhis, on the sidelines of the event. “By as soon as 2019, we expect consumers to be able to create their own financial accounts and start investing in the capital markets through mobile applications within 20 minutes, no matter which banking services they use,” he said.

One potential challenge to the digitalisation of financial services offered in the capital markets concerns the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) as investment advisers to replace humans.

“When consumers make a loss from their investments as a result of following investment advice from AI, it is not clear who should be held accountable,” said Vasin Vanichvoranun, chairman of the Association of Investment Management Companies (AIMC). This may lead consumers to lose trust in the financial services which companies provide, he said.

Rapee said: “The SEC is working to regulate the capital markets with a principle-based approach. This means we will make sure that advisers, regardless of whether they are AI, human or a hybrid of both, give reliable information that can be accessed and investigated.” Jesseda said fintech firms have addressed this challenge by introducing hybrid solutions. This means that AI is used to support human brokers in giving financial advice to their clients.

Rapee said: “I believe we are at a tipping point. With the growth of fintech firms and an ageing population that demands stable income after retirement through investing in the capital market, there will be an exponential growth in clients within the capital market in the next five years.”

Following discussions with the Chinese billionaire in Shanghai yesterday, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said the Alibaba chief had acceded to the Thai request to help promote tourism through its online commerce empire, which can access a large number of Chinese.

Thailand will do a 20-second video promoting the country’s tourism as part of Alibaba’s online promotional campaign on November 11 and about 800 million Chinese are expected to view this online campaign.

Combined with the waiver of visa-on-arrival fees for Chinese tourists and for nationals of 20 other countries plus Taiwan, more tourists are expected to visit Thailand later this year.

“Alibaba is pleased to support Thailand’s tourism and now it is going to hold an activity for the single person day on November 11, asking us to do 20 seconds of a short presentation video. I may be the presenter of this video to gain Chinese tourists’ confidence on convenience and safety,” Somkid said.

Alibaba also confirmed it would invest more in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), as it wants to build up a logistics hub for products in Thailand and the region, apart from its planned human resources development and training centre. The Chinese e-commerce giant is seeking a plot of land in the EEC.

After Ma spoke of Alibaba’s need for Thai fruits ranging from mangosteen, mango and others, aside from durian, Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said he had asked the Chinese e-commerce giant to inform about the types of products, specifications and the quantities needed in detail so that an annual plan could be drafted to direct effective production and sourcing through contract farming.

Alibaba has been sourcing high-potential Thai products and helping Thai operators export to China. Three groups of potential Thai products are: agricultural and agro-industry products – fruits and processed fruits, fruit juice, frozen seafood, broken rice, nuts, coconut oil and snacks; electronics and computer parts and raw materials – plastic pellets; and lifestyle products – textiles, nano fabrics, sportswear, cotton and woven fabrics, wooden furniture and leather products.

In mid-2017, Alibaba Group decided to make a Bt11-billion investment, including a digital platform, distribution centre and transportation joining hands with Thailand Post, IT investment, automation and robot systems for small and medium enterprises and joint digital human resources development and business promotion through e-commerce, in the EEC’s smart digital hub.

According to Sontirat, Alibaba is ready to help train Thai officials who will develop Thai business operators through online trade and technology. Alibaba has a business development centre – Taobao Village Model.

Soon, Thailand will dispatch its team of 15-20 members from the Commerce Ministry’s Department of Business Development, the Interior Ministry’s Community Development Department and the Agriculture and Cooperatives Ministry’s Cooperative Promotion Department for in-depth learning from Alibaba on the development of a logistics network to carry products from local areas to consumers.