These SEZs are in Mae Sot, Tak province; Mukdahan’s Muang district; Nong Khai’s Muang district; Aranyaprathet, Sa Kaew province; Khlong Yai, Trat province; and Sadao, Songkhla province. The aim is to ensure sufficient electrical supply to serve these SEZs.

The committee also approved in principle the plans of the Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (Egat) and the Provincial Electricity Authority to improve and construct the power-transmission systems for a total cost of Bt7.35 billion.

The committee also acknowledged the progress of the first phase (2016-17) of the country’s plan to promote electric vehicles (EVs).

Egat is in the process of developing three projects: a pilot project demonstrating the use of electric minibuses and their charging stations; a pilot project on using smart-grid technology to manage electricity use by EVs; and a study of the standards for applying the No 5 energy-saving label to EVs and charging stations.

The Metropolitan Electricity Authority is developing a project to install four charging stations to serve the Bangkok Mass Transit Authority’s pilot electric public buses. The BMTA is procuring 200 electric buses, with their procurement expected to be complete by next April.

Meanwhile, the Energy Regulatory Commission on Tuesday announced that it would buy excess electricity from waste-to-power plants, using the feed-in tariff method, from now until 2019

They are increasing purchasing power, increasing the volume of trade in goods, and eliminating non-tariff barriers.

The strategies were established at a meeting of the Border Trade Promotion and Investment in Neighbouring Countries Committee yesterday that was chaired by Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn.

Niyom Waiyaratpanich, vice chairman to the Thai Chamber of Commerce and chairman of the Border Trade Committee, said the government had called for the streamlining of customs procedures.

Niyom said the government also wanted non-tariff barriers reduced to promote the growth of border trade in order to support the economy and boost the standard of living of local people. He said measures the government undertake immediately included increasing the maximum allowed for hand-carry goods from US$200 (Bt7,000) to $1,000, to reflect the higher prices of goods.

Niyom said the government also wanted to allow trucks from neighbouring countries entering the Kingdom to do so within a set area, say 3 kilometres from the checkpoint, before their cargo must be transferred to Thai-licensed trucks. This would save costs on logistics and facilitate trans-shipments.

Enterprises have also urged the government to extend the visa-exemption period for border passes from seven to 14 days.

Niyom said that if Thailand |wanted to promote border-trade growth, non-tariff barriers should be reduced. The government might consider setting up a task force to discuss border trade with each partner country.

Apiradi said the government had agreed to set up a subcommittee to promote border trade between Thailand and Myanmar after the private sector agreed to set up the Thai-Myanmar Business Council.

The Commerce Ministry will stage the “Thai-Myanmar Trade Expo” in Mae Sot, Tak province, in November.

The ministry reported that border trade was up 3.6 per cent to Bt576.05 billion during the first half of this year.

“It should bode good tidings for the mood of consumers over the rest of the year, but to what extent still hinges on how the government can make consumers feel comfortable and spend more,” said Boonchai Chokwatana, president of Saha Pathanapibul Plc, a major consumer goods group.

The results were expected and should boost the confidence of domestic and foreign investors, he said.

Isara Vongkusolkit, chairman of the Board of Trade and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said government spending and tourism would still be the backbone of the economy during the rest of this year.

S&P Global Ratings said political uncertainties improved somewhat, but its sovereign credit ratings on Thailand (foreign currency BBB+/Stable/A-2; local currency A-/Stable/A-2; axAA/axA-1) are unaffected.

While the result of the referendum increases the likelihood of an election next year, the level of political uncertainty in the country remains significant.

“Early results of the referendum held in Thailand on Sunday suggested that a majority of voters expressed support for the draft constitution that the military government put forward.

“This makes it very likely that the military government will proceed with elections for a new government in 2017, as it promised.

“By the end of 2017, the new elected government is likely to be in place.” This development, however, has only reduced political uncertainties modestly.

Major political parties are against the constitution put forward in the referendum, although some have expressed acceptance of the result. Voter turnout was also low. Critics of the charter said it allows the military to exert significant political control even after an elected government comes into office.

Consequently, it is unclear if the next election will yield a government that bridges the political divide and pushes ahead with policies that could reinvigorate economic development.

“Given the uncertainties, private sector investment is likely to remain weak over the next year or two. “We expect economic performance to remain relatively subdued and prevent meaningful improvements in the sovereign credit metrics,” S&P said.

Nalin Chutchotitham, an economist at HSBC Thailand, said economic policies will likely be maintained for the coming four to six quarters, so there should be no significant shift in the economic and foreign exchange outlook.

Still, establishing a new constitution is an important step forward in the government’s political roadmap and should help to improve Thailand’s relationship with foreign partners.

Also, a more predictable political timeline can lift business confidence, even if it may not yet translate into significantly higher consumption and investment in the near term. Lastly, political disruption is only one factor that has caused the economy to grow sluggishly in the past decade.

To boost growth, Thailand still needs to reduce structural bottlenecks and solve other issues such as high household debt and weak private investment.

John Marrett, research analyst for Asia at the Economist Intelligence Unit, said they view the “yes” vote as an expression of Thai citizens’ desire for political and economic stability.

“Although many suspected that the new charter could undermine their previously held democratic rights, the perceived risk of greater political uncertainty and economic instability, if the constitution had been voted down, was far less appealing.

“The positive impact on political stability from public approval of the junta’s plans does not guarantee that a strong improvement in Thailand’s economy will follow,” he said.

Veerathai Santiprabhob, governor of the Bank of Thailand, said the referendum results could sweeten the economy in the latter half of this year, given the country’s clearer direction.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand Index rose sharply in morning trade, reflecting investor confidence after the end of the political uncertainty on expectation of foreign capital to flow into the Thai bourse and bond market.

And that could make the baht appreciate in the short term, he said.

 TOURISM UNAFFECTED 4B

Representatives of the Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) and the Thai Ecotourism and Adventure Travel Association (TEATA) predicted that the tourism sector would continue to grow in the remaining months and the number of visitors should exceed the earlier projection of 30 million.

Charoen Wangananont, president of the Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), said the results of the referendum would not make much difference to either local or foreign tourists because it was not a big concern for their travel plans.

He believes that many tourists realise that political tension and unrest in Thailand are not big issues for them, judging from the growth of international arrivals over the last 10 years, a period of political instability.

Charoen said foreign tourists would continue travelling to Thailand during the rest of the year as they want to experience Thai culture. This is particularly true for repeat visitors.

“Nearly 20 million foreign tourists visited Thailand during first five months. It was good sign for remaining months of this year. ATTA believes that the country has a chance to reach 33 million international arrivals this year. The referendum was not a big issue for many tourists.”

He added that China would remain the biggest source of tourists over the next five years – about one-third of the total. This year, ATTA’s members expect to serve 7 million tourists.

Weerasak Kowsurat, president of the TCEB, predicted that more than a million of MICE (meeting, incentive, convention and exhibition) travellers would travel to Thailand this year and generate revenue of up to Bt100 billion.

“I don’t see big changes after the referendum,” he said, noting that it would take time for the resulting rules and regulations to be put in place.

Duangkamol Chansuriyawong, president of TEATA, also doubts the results of referendum would have any impact on the tourism sector.

She said operators continued doing business as usual and tourists both foreigners and locals would travel as planned, particularly in niche markets such as ecotourism and adventure groups, who would not consider the political changes.

She said the ecotourism and adventure sectors had attracted some more tourists despite the country facing a drought since last year, and some entered the forests to help wild animals and grow plants as well as making fire |barriers.

The new plan will aim to promote more research and development by focusing on infrastructure development, developing human resources in research, and encouraging private-sector participation in research.

Sukunya Theerakullert, secretary-general of the NRCT, said every country had to use research for national development. Research and innovation could be utilised for national and commercial benefit. Innovation has influence on the country’s development as new technology could be developed and create smart citizens.

“Under the government’s … 20-year National Development Policy, Thailand is aimed towards being a country based on stability, prosperity and sustainability. To achieve that goal, Thailand needs to step away from the middle-income trap, and research and innovation could be an answer to help the country’s development,” she said.

The strategy aims to increase research spending to at least 1-1.5 per cent of gross domestic product, while doubling the number of researchers to 25 per 10,000 citizens.

Currently, spending on R&D in Thailand is only 0.48 per cent of GDP. The country is behind Malaysia, which has 19 researchers per 10,000 citizens, while Thailand has only 12.9.

The strategy will take action in many forms such as the “Training for the Trainer” project, granting scholarships for students in both undergraduate and vocational programmes to become researchers, inspiring innovation contests, and setting up learning centres for researchers not only in Bangkok but also other large cities.

Expos

Another plan is to setup a research expos as showcases for new research work and innovation so that they can be developed for commercialisation and the benefit of the country.

To enhance research, every sector needs to participate. Research should also be able to utilised in real life. This strategy will encourage more private enterprises to support research work.

Sukunya said the private sector needed to invest more on R&D. Overseas, private enterprise invests anywhere from 30 to 70 per cent more than the government sector on research work, but in Thailand, the government invests about 60 per cent of the total. The NRCT wants to get the public-private investment ratio to 50:50 in the near future.

In developed countries, most private enterprises invest in their own research so that they can utilise the results for commercialisation. Thailand will also encourage more private enterprises to do more research and innovation for the benefit of the economy, she said.

The “Thailand Research Expo” will take place from August 17 to 21 at Centara Grand and Bangkok Convention Center, CentralWorld, Bangkok.

After joining the Asean Economic Ministers’ Meeting in Laos last week, Thai Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said Asean and six partner countries – China, South Korea, Japan, India, Australia and New Zealand – wanted RCEP to be finalised by the end of this year.

The RCEP committee meeting on August 12-19 will discuss the outstanding issues, including trade in goods and services, investment, and economic cooperation in all dimensions, she said.

The acceleration of the negotiations resulted from an exchange of views among the 16 RCEP countries, the United States and Russia on promoting economic growth and relieving the impacts from the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union.

Asean and the partner countries also supported talks in the World Trade Organisation and Group of 20 venues.

If the RCEP is accomplished, it will be the world’s largest free-trade agreement, covering a population of 3.35 billion, or more than 50 per cent of the world total. The combined gross domestic product would be more than US$22.9 trillion, or 29 per cent of global GDP.

Export to the RCEP countries accounts for 55 per cent of Thailand’s total export value.

As of 2014, total value of trade between Thailand and the other RCEP countries was $2.6 trillion, or 57 per cent of the total. Export from Thailand to RCEP countries was valued $1.27 trillion, or 56 per cent of the total, while import was $1.33 trillion, or 58 per cent of total import value.

During the meeting in Laos, the Asean ministers also agreed to conduct a feasibility study on anFTA between Asean and the Eurasian Economic Union (EEU), and discussed conducting free-trade talks with Canada after setting up the Asean-Canada Trade Policy Dialogue to tighten economic cooperation between the two sides.

So far, Vietnam is the only Asean country to have conducted free-trade talks with the EEU, while Singapore and Cambodia have also proposed negotiations. Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand have shown interest in such talks as well.

Thailand has proposed that Russia use Asean as a centre for food security, while promoting trade growth between the two sides, as well as supporting the development of small and medium-sized enterprises.a

The five members of the EEU are Belarus, Kazakhstan, Russia, Armenia and Kyrgyzstan.

The Asean will also review free-trade talks with Australia and New Zealand, after an FTA with them has been in place for almost a decade. The aim is to finalise a revision of the pact within two years.

Deputy Education Minister Teerakiat Jareonsettasin met with ATPAC representatives last week to discuss ways to improve the Thai educational system and decided to work on the three projects.

Methi Wecharatana, professor and associate chair for Graduate Studies at the New Jersey Institute of Technology and adviser to ATPAC’s board of directors, said the first project involves the use of an application developed from Apple’s Siri virtual personal assistant program to provide interactive English-language learning courses for Thai students.

ATPAC has also been assigned to work with involved authorities to help upgrade science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) education, as well as to help evaluate the work of the centres of excellence.

Thailand currently has 15 national centres of excellence, 11 of which come under the Education Ministry and the four national research centres on biotech, material sciences, computer and nano technologies under the Ministry of Science and Technology.

Methi said these centres are crucial to the development of the Kingdom and if they can perform their tasks well, “they will change everything” for the country.

ATPAC, in conjunction with the Office of the Higher Education Commission (OHEC) and the National Science and Technology Development Agency, will hold a seminar on “the Role of the Higher Education Institutions and Private Sector in STEM Education in Thailand” on Monday.

Teerakiat will give an opening address to the conference. Other speakers include Yada Mukdapitak, deputy secretary-general of the National Science Technology and Innovation Policy Office; OHEC secretary-general Aporn Kanvong; and Pailin Chuchottaworn, former CEO and president of PTT.

Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said that this year the ministry was focusing on developing key economically important cities nationwide, including the seven key hubs in the South.

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha and Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak have announced plans to promote economic growth in the South under the “Triangle of stability, prosperity, and sustainability”.

The ministry will concentrate on developing the economies of the selected seven cities in the south. They are considered high potential cities for trading, as they are travel centres for Thais and Malaysians.

The government will develop those cities to become a centre of trading in the border southern provinces, to be an industrial centre, a production centre for agricultural products in terms of volume and value, a centre for quality food manufacturing, and halal food production.

Under the plan to develop the seven cities, the ministry will focus on human resources, support logistics linkage, and promote investment and trading.

Many activities will be launched in those cities such as trade fairs and exhibitions, walking street market, and open retail shops for selling cheap goods. The ministry’s Business Development Department will also help promote and train local enterprises so they are able to trade and expand investment in other areas.