The ministry aims to change farming logic to the demand-driven method, with the goal of restructuring the crops within five years, perhaps as early as three years.

The ministry plans to restructure the rice industry by making it a priority crop from the farming stage to the marketing stage. It will limit plantation areas and the production of rice, while focusing on quality and rice grains that create value-adds.

It aims to reduce production of rice from between 30 million and 33 million tonnes of paddy to 25 million tonnes each year so that rice will not be in oversupply, while prices do not decline.

The government will also focus on innovation and technology support in an effort to reduce the cost of production and increase the value of products such as processed rice, rice-bran oil, rice snacks, and cosmetics made from rice.

The Commerce Ministry will also adjust its role from being only a trade supporter to regulating demand and supply by working with the Agriculture Ministry, as it believes demand should help solve problems on the supply side.

Currently there are 2.7 million SMEs in Thailand, 600,000 of which are operating in a corporate form, while the rest are individuals. Around 400,000 of the corporate SMEs are active.

“There is nothing for them to lose and there are only gains, so I expect almost 100 per cent, or around 400,000 active corporate SMEs, to register within the next two months,” Sompong Tantapart, deputy director-general of the Revenue Department told reporters at a department-arranged seminar to provide accounting firms with information about the measures yesterday.

He explained that of the 400,000 active SMEs, around 340,000 were expected to be operators with annual income of less than Bt30 million while around 80,000 had annual income of between Bt30 million and Bt500 million.

At present, the corporate-income-tax rate is 20 per cent.

“We have made an understanding with around 10,000 accounting firms today [via the seminar and video conference] and they are currently handling the accounts of around 300,000 active SMEs, which should cover most of our target group already,” he said.

The two-month tax incentives conclude on March 15 and include a promise not to investigate SMEs for back taxes if they agree to register within the tax system during the given period of time.

SMEs that are currently being investigated are also eligible to register and receive the tax incentives, as the authority will only look into the tax records of the year that is currently being investigated.

An SME is defined as a business that reports sales and other revenues of Bt500 million or less per year.

SMEs with registered capital of no more than Bt5 million and annual revenues of Bt30 million or less will also be exempt from income tax in the 2016 accounting year and are subject to a reduced rate of 10 per cent in the 2017 accounting year if they agree to pay taxes properly.

SMEs that have registered and received the tax incentive will, however, be subject to a back-tax investigation if they fail to pay tax properly.

Companies that fail to register for tax payment between January 1 this year and December 31, 2019, will not be able to apply for loans from commercial banks, since the banks will require a tax record that is approved by the Revenue Department before considering a loan.

SMEs must also have a single business account when applying for loans from January 1, 2019, onwards.

The NBTC has distributed the vouchers to 13.8 million households, and 8 million have been redeemed so far.

However, Philip Heussen, head of Next Step’s Freeview HD, a distributor of satellite receivers, said on Wednesday that despite the 8 million redeemed coupons, only 3 million digital-TV receivers had been installed.

The distributor group also claimed that most of the distributed coupons had already expired, so the NBTC should extend the opportunity for those who have coupons to use them until analog broadcasting comes to an end.

As a key part of transforming the national broadcasting system to digital terrestrial technology, the NBTC offered the Bt690 vouchers to encourage TV viewers to exchange their old receivers for new ones allowing them to watch the 24 new commercial digital channels.

NBTC member Supinya Klangnarong, who received the letter from the set-top box manufacturers, said yesterday that her broadcasting committee had been urged to set a clear deadline for the implementation of the “must carry” rule.

Poj Aramwattananont, chairman of the Thai Fishery Producers Coalition (TFPC), said Thailand should be upgraded by the EU after its serious attempts to tackle fishery-related problems over the past 10 months.

“If the country continues with the yellow card, it may be because the EU needs time to see the outcome of our efforts. Through actions by the government and private enterprises, we have done a lot and will continue to solve the problems to ensure sustainable growth of the industry,” Poj said.The volume of Thai fishery exports last year increased, but value decreased because of the global trading slowdown, and not because of the IUU accusations, Poj said.

He added that export of fishery products this year should increase as the global economy recovers and some markets strengthen.

The EU will send officials to make a final evaluation for Thailand from January 18-24. The result of their inspection is to be announced in February.

Poj said that during the past 10 months, every sector of the industry had confirmed its cooperation and support of all the policies and activities of the government. Every trade association has amended its operations in accordance with the rules, regulations and policy set by the government to create sustainable development and build the confidence that IUU fishing should be eliminated as soon as possible.

From now on, the industry claims, fishery practices will be in accordance with world standards and there will be no risk of raw materials derived from IUU fishing contaminating the production chain. This means ensuring traceability and eliminating child labour, human trafficking, and worker exploitation.

Mongkol Sukcharoenkana, vice chairman of the National Fisheries Association of Thailand, said it was confident that the EU would not downgrade Thailand or issue a “red card”. The government and private enterprises had been serious about not only solving the problems but going beyond the EU’s requirements to ensure sustainable development of the fishing industry.

During the past 10 months, the TFPC, eight associations, and private enterprises have undertaken many actions such as declaring their policies and speeding up their support for their members to do everything correctly in accordance with the law, policy and government orders, the industry claims.

Each trade association has declared that its members must adhere strictly to the Fisheries Act 2015 and not buy raw materials from fishing boats or supplies that do not comply with the law. If found to be guilty of human trafficking, members will be banned and thus unable to export their products.

Thailand has also allowed the International Labour Organisation in cooperation with the Labour Ministry to educate all trade-association members on good labour practices and how to implement them.

Enterprises have also cooperated with various human-rights organisations both at home and abroad in educating their members and ensuring that their practices comply with the Labour Relations Act, as well as funding such activities as building schools, offering scholarships, hiring teachers and holding training seminars.

The industry says it has also cooperated fully with government agencies to implement traceability control for types of products.

The fish-farming sector will need certificates for moving aquatic animals, and the catching sector must hold Marine Catch Purchasing Documents. The import and export sectors of all types of fishing must have documentation that can be verified and traced back.

Moreover, the industry says it supports the government in tackling IUU fishing in accordance with international principles, including the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and the FAO (Food and Agriculture Organisation) Code of Conduct for Responsible Fisheries, along with the domestic Fisheries Act and the National Marine Fisheries Management Policy.

Finally, each association has conducted a survey and corrected its weaknesses throughout the production chain in order to ensure that IUU fishing and violations of the Fisheries Act and labour law do not occur. For example, the Thai Frozen Food Association and the Thai Tuna Industry Association have cancelled the use of peeling sheds outside the plants operated by their members.

He added that despite the yellow card, fishery trading had not been affected, as foreign buyers were still confident in the Thai industry’s production quality and sanitary standards.

“The recent A-6 discovery has revealed the potential in Myanmar’s deep waters. So it will be on a first come, first served basis. Discoveries are waiting for brave explorers in our deep waters,” he said at Neoventure’s “Offshore Summit Myanmar 2016” on Tuesday.

Last week, locally owned MPRL E&P announced the discovery of gas in the Shwe Yee Htun-1 well in the Rakhine Basin, with help from international co-investors – Woodside Energy and Total E&P, which each hold 40 per cent in the project.

Than Minn urged international operators to explore more in deep-water blocks, saying that the exploration was expected to be a key engine in boosting the economy. MOGE itself is currently trying to develop hydrocarbon resources by utilising its capabilities and optimising efforts in 10 onshore blocks.

“Natural gas is the best choice for fuel because of its availability. LNG [liquefied natural gas] offers a kind of security. Now many businesspeople are coming to Myanmar to introduce LNG business here.

“Myanmar is very new to the LNG business. And we started to find a solution [by using] LNG as a major source of gas. For that, we need master planning and feasibility studies. This is the first step for our energy business,” he said, adding that LNG would play a dominant role in both short and long terms until domestic gas production surges.

Shell, an Anglo-Dutch multinational oil and gas company, has signed a memorandum of understanding with the Myanmar government to build an LNG terminal in the Dawei Special Economic Zone for generating power for the industrial estate. The company recently commenced operations in Dawei SEZ.

At the event, Than Tun, former director of the Myanmar Energy Ministry and now adviser to MOGE, insisted that the outlook was bright despite lower energy prices.

“So far, there is no significant impact of decreasing oil prices on exploration. All the operators are carrying out their plans in accordance with the production sharing contract,” he said. The price of West Texas crude oil fell to just below US$30 a barrel in New York on Tuesday, the lowest intra-day price since December 2003.

The outlook is bright, Than Tun said, judging from the number of companies – 51 – seeking discussions with MOGE in the past few months. Most of them are from Asia, chiefly Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Japan, and India. Besides Asian firms, Australian companies are also interested in doing business in the newly opened nation, he said.

Myanmar has a total of 51 offshore blocks. At present, exploration is carried out in 18 blocks. Additional 20 blocks were auctioned off and pre-exploration activities are underway. Winners of exploration rights must start drilling in shallow-water blocks by next year and in deep-water blocks by 2018.

Than Tun said that under the production sharing contracts, the winners are committed to carry out their exploration activities no matter what. Though open for negotiation on operation terms, Myanmar may blacklist those failing to honour their agreements.

The adviser said there was no plan yet for the next bidding round consisting of 13 offshore blocks.

The oil and gas sector has received the biggest portion of foreign direct investment into Myanmar.

“All five tangible measures that were agreed upon today will definitely be implemented this year,” Somkid Jatusipitak, deputy prime minister in charge of economic affairs, said yesterday after signing five memoranda of understanding with around 30 public and private organisations on ways to steer the “Pracharat” ideology of economic partnerships among the people, government and the private sector.

Among the prominent agencies and institutions inking the MoUs were the Community Organisations Development Institution, the Internal Trade Department, the BAAC, the Government Savings Bank (GSB), the Industrial Promotion Department, the National Farmers Federation, the National Innovation Agency, the Federation of Thai SMEs, the National Village and Urban Community Fund Office, the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration, Biz Club Thailand, CP All, Tesco Lotus and Big C Supercenter.

The first of the MoUs is for the National Village and Urban Community Fund Office to compile investment plans on local infrastructures from farmers, local communities, governors and local government before coming up with a budget for community projects that are most beneficial for local people as a whole, and for Pracharat projects such as storage facilities, processing and drying factories, and production equipment and machinery.

In this regard, the Finance Ministry and the Board of Investment are currently working on extra incentives such as tax-reduction measures for large companies that are willing to support and co-invest with local entrepreneurial farmers and agricultural SMEs to help with the upgrading |of the quality of locally made products.

“Initially we are thinking about a total budget of Bt70 billion for the ‘One Tambon One Agricultural SME’ initiative, and the bank does have enough internal budget to fund the measure, which will be submitted for the board’s consideration. Our chairman and Finance Minister Apisak Tantiworawong have already arranged a meeting on this issue, which is scheduled for next week,” said BAAC president Luck Wajananawat.

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“We are not worried about non-performing loans, as there will be a selection process for the local agricultural entrepreneurs and SMEs that we will support, and we already have some in mind,” he added.

The repayment period for the loans, which will no more than Bt10 million per operator at an interest rate of 4 per cent, is set at 10 years.

The measure is set to kick off next month, while the products supported by the loans should be able to make their way on to the shelves of modern retailers by the second half of the year, Luck said.

The third MoU involves Commerce Ministry “Pracharat Market” projects around the country to help with the selling of locally made agricultural products, as well as negotiations with modern retailers and companies within Asean to support the products.

The fourth MoU, meanwhile, involves efforts by the Tourism Authority of Thailand, the Designated Areas for Sustainable Tourism Administration and the Tourism and Sports Ministry to promote local products via investments to upgrade local tourism via a “One Amphoe One Tourist Destination” measure, to attract more Asean and domestic travellers to such areas.

State-run PTT has already agreed to provide extra space in its service stations around the country for the selling of locally made products within each area, Somkid said.

The fifth MoU involves the National Broadband strategy to support the improvement of education ion in local areas and the development of e-commerce as another outlet for locally made products.

“All five MoUs have already won Cabinet approval and their investments will definitely commence this year,” the deputy PM said.

The TITF is expected to attract more than 500,000 visitors from Thailand and overseas and generate income of Bt700 million for the tourism industry.

He said three similar events were planned to run at the same time in major provinces upcountry.Chiang Mai will host the event in the North, Udon Thani in the Northeast and Phuket in the South.

Suparerk said travel operators from abroad would join the TITF, mostly from Myanmar, Brunei, the Philippines, Laos, Vietnam, Cambodia, Singapore, mainland China, Japan, Hong Kong, India, New Zealand, Australia, the United States, Italy and Africa.

“This year, 65 operators from overseas will join the event and have a chance to talk with 1,200 local operators,” he said.

Suparerk said 6.8 million Thais travelled outside the country last year. Half of them visited neighbouring countries, particularly Laos, Cambodia, Singapore and Myanmar.

The association expects the outbound business to grow by 7 per cent this year thanks to the official implementation of the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

In 2015, average spending by outbound tourists was Bt5,000 per person per day.

Major firms such as Amadeus, Thaivivat Insurance, and Krungthai Card plan to offer special promotions and deals for those who purchase tours or packages at the event. Purchasers have a chance to win two passenger cars as well as other prizes worth a total of Bt1 million. Yutthachai Soonthronrat tanavate, president of the ADT, believes that the number of local tourists will increase by more than 10 per cent and average spending by 25 per cent this year. The significant increasing would be due to the government’s tourism stimulus packages announced this week.

“With the government tourism stimulus package, I hope that many people will take more vacations and travel more instead of buying jewellery or mobile phones,” said Yutthachai said.

He said domestic tourism grew slightly last year, but average spending per head dropped by 10 per cent because many tourists shifted to cheap hotels and shortened their trips.