The programme’s suspension comes just two weeks after two of its TV hosts were hit with 10-day bans.

Pakdee Manaves, deputy secretary-general of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission, |confirmed yesterday that the NBTC’s broadcasting committee had voted 3-1 on Monday to agree with a request from a subcommittee overseeing TV content |and scheduling regulations to suspend Voice TV’s “Wake Up News” from September 1 to 7.

The request was made last week for the broadcasting committee’s consideration. The subcommittee said Voice TV had aired controversial content related to an August 15 interview with Pol Captain Chomdet Trimek about the recent bombings and arson attacks, a hunger strike by political activist Pai Daodin, and the clarification by Constitution Drafting Commission chairman Meechai Ruchupan on the charter amendment regarding the process for selecting the prime minister.

The subcommittee said the news content was deemed to be in violation of the junta’s orders 41/59, 97/57 and 103/57, Section 37 of the Broadcasting Act, and a memorandum of understanding with the NBTC.

Supinya Klangnarong was the only member of the broadcasting committee to vote against the suspension. She posted her opinion via Twitter that the NBTC administration had not presented the full report generated by Voice TV to the committee to support the proposal from the subcommittee on content and scheduling. The issue of appropriate penalties was unclear, and the legality of the content aired during the programme was still debatable, in her view.

However, she acknowledged that the weak point of this news programme was that the hosts often expressed their own opinions while reading and analysing the news, so it was believed that they had taken sides.

Voice TV’s communications department issued a statement accepting the regulator’s decision and said it would comply with the order by replacing the programme with alternative content during the suspension.

The NBTC earlier suspended the two hosts of “Wake Up News”, ML Nattakorn Devakul and Atukkit Sawangsuk, for 10 days starting on August 15.

Sanan Angubolkul, vice chairman of the Board of Trade, aims to have a discussion with BOT Governor Veerathai Santiprabhob soon. Sanan said that if the baht does not move with volatility, export growth was expected at 0-2 per cent this year.

The discussion will involve measures to deal with currency volatility that could have negatives impacts on Thai exporters, he said.

Exporters now have agreed that an exchange rate of 34.50 per dollar is acceptable, even though early this year they wanted 36.00 to the dollar, he said.

“If the baht does not fluctuate or appreciate to the level that could affect competitiveness, export growth is believed to be [forecast at] 0-2 per cent. However, if the baht continues its appreciation, Thai exports could see a negative [growth] figure this year,” he said.

Thailand’s gross domestic product is forecast to grow by 3.5 per cent this year, Sanan said.

He said he expected the economy to make a good recovery, given more domestic political stability as seen from more investment from foreign and Thai investors and consistent expansion in tourism.

Droughts have not yet had much impact on the economy despite low prices of agricultural products, he said.

He urged the government to launch tax measures to encourage the Thai private sector to make more investments outside the country, as previously government promotion has been directed more to lure foreign investment into Thailand.

Finance Minister Apisak Tantivorawong yesterday accepted that the baht was appreciating too much, which could be bad for the export sector.

The central bank should oversee the baht to keep it at a proper level, he said, but added that he believed the BOT had already been monitoring the currency to see that it moves in line with its peers in the region.

Apisak said there were signs of the economic recovery that got under way in the second quarter of this year continuing in the current quarter. GDP growth is expected to be close to or more than that of the second quarter at 3.5 per cent thanks to the government’s economic stimulus and consistent investment promotion.

In maintain these growth expectations, the Finance Ministry plans to submit the Cabinet a plan to maintain the value-added-tax rate at 7 per cent for one more year. The earlier deadline for the low rate was September 30, 2016.

Tax deduction of three times will also be proposed for all private enterprises that join hands [with whom?] for research and development activities that benefit small enterprises, Apisak said. Initially, the planned development will start in five “S-curve” groups including agriculture and food.

He said exports were still sluggish because a number of economies around the world had not yet recovered while the domestic export sector had not yet undergone structural adjustment. Earlier, Thailand had faced domestic conflicts without development and investment for several years.

The government has launched measures to enhance the country’s production efficiency and entice the private sector to invest.

“I’d like you to think about |it. There are several ways to invest. |One is we invest when the |over all market is going well. Another is we invest for market expansion as we believe it should start now.

“If we believe in economic cycles, with a down cycle of eight to 10 years, now we have been in the down cycle for seven years.

“That means that the global economy should grow in the next two to three years. If it expands, are we ready to capture that growth or make investment then?” Apisak said.

It also granted investment privileges to 34 projects worth more than Bt200 billion, including PTT’s Bt96.5-billion plan to install a natural-gas pipeline from Rayong to Nonthaburi.

Hirunya Suchinai, secretary-general of the BOI, said investors applying for tax breaks between now and next year would enjoy an eight-year waiver. Those applying after 2017 would get five years.

The board also resolved to add the tax support measures for small and medium-sized enterprises investing in medical equipment to its existing measures designed for promoting SME investment.

This means businesses applying for support to invest in medical equipment under the SME measures will gain an extra two years on top of the existing privileges under the BOI’s tax measures to support the medical-equipment industry by any company.

The BOI also considered possible tax measures to support the hospital business but needed time to study all aspects carefully.

Another highlight was PTT Global Chemical’s Bt33.95-billion expansion project for the production of ethylene, propylene and butadiene.

Earlier the BOI reported that investment in medical products in Thailand that applied for incentives surged 252 per cent to Bt5.1 billion during the past seven months from Bt1.45 billion in the same period last year.

The BOI has recently revised up the target for the value of new applications this year to Bt550 billion from Bt450 billion.

After the first meeting of a Joint Trade Commission including Bhutanese Economic Affairs Minister of Lyonpo Lekey Dorji last week, |Thai Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said yesterday that the two countries had foreseen closer cooperation in many ways, particularly in tourism, as both are strong in that sector.

“Bhutan has encouraged more Thai investors to do business there as well as help transfer know-how in tourism management and human-resource development,” she said.

The cooperation will emphasise cultural and religious tourism. Meanwhile, the “Two Kingdoms One Destination” package could be promoted and advertised under a single campaign. Bhutan has also encouraged Thai high-end hotel enterprises to invest there to serve rising tourism.

So far, two Thai enterprises have already invested in Bhutan’s hotel business. They are Haven Resort in the town of Paro and DhusitD2 in Thimphu, the nation’s capital.

In the agricultural sector, Thailand has provided support to Bhutan for a long time. It will increase cooperation in harvesting, research for biotechnology and laboratory development.

For its part, Bhutan will set up a trade mission to Thailand early next year in order to showcase its strengths in trade, tourism and investment.

Apiradi said that Phub Zam, chairwoman of Bhutan’s Trade and Industrial Organisation, said her country wanted to attract investment from Thailand in many sectors, including agriculture, tourism, construction, forestry and wood products, education, and film production, and development.

Bhutan is Thailand’s eight-largest trading partner among South Asian countries, and 166th globally. Trade between Thailand and Bhutan was quite small at US$11 million (Bt380 million) last year.

The value of two-way trade during the past five years averaged $15.1 million, but has grown quite strongly at 38 per cent a year. Exports from Thailand averaged $14.98 million, growing by 39.12 per cent a year, while imports amounted to a very small $120,000 a year.

Potential export products from Thailand to Bhutan are automobiles and parts, textiles, machinery and parts, wheat products, processed foods, garments, canned and processed fruits, microwave ovens, electrical appliances, furniture and parts, and paper and printing products.

Import products from Bhutan include wood and products, soap, cosmetics, medical products, fruits and vegetables, and fabrics.

At a Bangkok Bank-hosted seminar “Partners in Growth” on Friday to mark 25 years of China-Asean relations, Sarasin Viraphol, executive vice president of Charoen Pokphand Group said manufacturing cost was the most talked-about issue in China, not international relations.

As the Chinese economy slows to a “new normal” condition, promoting overseas investment and buoying domestic consumption carry more weight than export growth, he said.

Last year, foreign direct investment into China was US$120 billion (Bt4.2 trillion), lower than the $130-billion outward investment. Of the total outward FDI, Asean attracted only $7.8 billion or about 6 per cent.

“Given that tiny amount, the opportunities are huge. In the next five years, the investment could comfortably grow fivefold,” he said.

The CP executive is convinced that the agriculture and food industries stand to benefit greatly, thanks to the pace of China’s urbanisation and growing consumption.

Sarasin said Chinese food companies’ investments in Asean, mainly Malaysia and Thailand, could also elevate trust in their own products among Chinese consumers.

Meanwhile, Asean as a region would benefit from this trend just as trade with China seems to have peaked, while trade with the West has been hit by fragile recovery in demand.

China has been a major trading partner of Asean, with which it established an official dialogue in 1991. Bilateral trade grew by 18.5 per cent per annum from 1991 to 2015, from $7.96 billion to $472.16 billion. However, bilateral trade volume in 2015 dropped by 3 per cent from 2014, the first decline since 2008.

“If Asean is more friendly to China, the opportunities are huge for the regional business sector to supply more products to China over the next five years.”

He is optimistic that Chinese investment flows to Asean will rise, even to the Philippines and Vietnam, which are direct adversaries in the South China Sea dispute. Thailand could also attract more investment through the Eastern Economic Corridor.

Majid Ahmad Khan, president of the Malaysia China Friendship Association, sees opportunities in growing Chinese investment in Asean transport infrastructure – rail, roads and ports – over the next 25 years.

“The investment platforms exist but Asean is yet to identify the projects to take advantage of the ‘One Belt One Road’ initiative,” he said, adding that a number of discussions took place during the past three years without any progress at the bilateral or multilateral levels.

The region should also promote connectivity with China, particularly in maritime tourism.

“China and Asean are yet to see how to deepen the cooperation for shared prosperity and reduce conflicts,” he said. Asean understands China’s aspiration to play a leading role, but many countries want Beijing to be more forthcoming about how it intends to attain that power.

Song Junying, deputy director of the China Institute of International Studies’ Asia-Pacific Research Department, said the Asean region had yet to make full use of existing financial tools including the China-Asean Investment Cooperation Fund, China-Asean Maritime Cooperation Fund, Silk Road Fund and Asian Infrastructure Investment Fund.

He added that economic relations could be promoted through more dialogue to neutralise distrust following China’s rising influence in the region.

He admitted there was an increasing perception of a Chinese threat, but said that was due to incomplete and incorrect understanding of Chinese history. Negative perceptions also arise from fears of dependence on China, politically and economically, as well as reports of unruly behaviour of Chinese tourists.

Worsening this are negative reports on the South China Sea dispute.

“It’s a bright but winding road ahead for the next 25 years. It depends on how these relations will be leveraged,” Song said.

 

It is believed better infrastructure in the state will support its strategies to develop the area’s tourism sector and promote small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) under this government’s term.

At a press conference, Salai Isaac Khen, the state’s minister for municipality, electricity and industry, said the state had failed to draw foreign investment due to its poor transport system and limited access to electricity.

But he said the outlook was bright as the state had received three proposals for hydropower plants and eight proposals for investment in hotels.

“Among the capitals of 14 states and regions in Myanmar, Hakha is the only one where there is no hotel,” he said, hinting that two hotel licences may be issued in the first stage to match the number of tourists. He assured that the process would be transparent.

Under the tourism-promotion strategy, a training centre will be established, along with the screening of tourist destinations and potential community-based tourism projects.

To promote SMEs, the state has vowed to cut red tape, improve SMEs’ access to bank loans, support the role of women, focus more on organic farming and value-added products and boost border trade with India through three new trade points.

It was believed that greater electricification and better transport would draw investment and a flow of goods, which would attract foreign investment.

Each strategy covers 13 plans. The implementation and budgeting remains to be discussed with the Union government, the Friedrich Naumann Foundation and relevant stakeholders.

The minister said transport infrastructure must be first improved, as it takes hours to travel from town-to-town within the state.

Only three towns out of 15 in the state have access to the national power grid, while other towns depend on diesel generators. And only 30 per cent of the population has access to electricity and there is no spare capacity for manufacturing activities. But two more towns are scheduled to be connected to the national grid by March 2017. Large-scale hydropower plants may be built on the Manipur and Kalaton rivers and mid-scale plants are likely to be built in Tonzang township. The state has also received a proposal for a wind farm project.

Wandee Tiansawakit, former president of the Professional Tourist Guide Association in Buri Ram province, said tourism operators such as hotels and travel companies wanted the government to promote Buri Ram Airport as an international airport as well as add a new cargo terminal to the airport in order to attract more domestic and international airlines.

She said Buri Ram had for years been a famous sports destination thanks to the Buriram United football team and the team’s world-class stadium.

She said big matches at the stadium lured the young and families to the province while local organisations had positioned Buri Ram as a meeting and leisure destination thanks to 60 ancient castles there, its unique culture and six inactive volcanoes. “If Buri Ram Airport is promoted as an international airport with a cargo terminal and a customs office, it should attract more domestic and foreign airlines to operate flights there and it will result in the province gaining more tourism business.”

If the airport were upgraded, other provinces in the lower Northeast region such as Surin, Srisaket, and Ubon Ratchathani were expected to gain more visitors, especially from Southeast Asia.

Currently, only two budget airlines, Nok Air and Thai AirAsia, use the airport. More than 80 per cent of tourists travelling to the region are from other provinces.

According to Wandee, Buri Ram provincial authorities will open a new gateway to the region at Ban Thok Phet, facilitating cross-border tourism between Thailand and Cambodia.

Numchai Pornpirunroj, owner of Porn Numchai Travel in Nong Khai in the upper Northeast, said most tourists visiting the province were from Vietnam, China, and South Korea. Some retired expatriates from Japan and Western countries lived there.

He urged officials to promote heritage sites in Western markets, such as Ban Chiang-Unesco’s pre-historic site and Uncle Ho House in Udon Thani.