We are here on that promise and our officials have been tasked to convert new trade and business ideas into tangible results that benefit the people of both countries, he added.

Further speaking the Thai deputy prime minister said,” “We discussed wide ranging issues at State level and are looking to triple our bilateral trade in the next five years. Private sectors of the two countries need to make all efforts to achieve the maximum benefit from this mutual cooperation. Our prime minister is committed to supporting Sri Lanka in its journey towards growth”.

“There are four main areas Thailand can help Sri Lanka to achieve its growth potential, “Firstly, industrial development, secondly adding value to small and medium industries (SMEs), thirdly, tourism and fourthly infrastructure and human development”, the Thailand deputy prime minister pointed out.

Thai Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang said, “Thai investors keen on investing overseas have identified high potential opportunities in Sri Lanka in agriculture, food processing, seafood products, basic infrastructure projects, tourism and hospitality, gem and jewellery and manufacturing of tech-devices. Meanwhile, Sri Lankan investors have the opportunity to invest in Thailand in industries such as natural rubber products, gems and jewellery, industrial chemicals and international trading activities”.

Daya Gamage, minister of Primary Industries said,” Our bilateral trade has declined over the past several years which stands at only US$ 500 million at present. It is geared to go up to US$1.5 billion in the next five years with the renewed efforts to boost our bilateral trade. Sri Lanka has to work towards ensuring that at least one third of that envisaged trade volume will account for exports from Sri Lanka to Thailand. While we urge Thai investors to invest in Sri Lanka, it’s important to mention that they will have the opportunity to sell their value-added goods to India and Pakistan benefitting from the Free Trade Agreements ( FTAs) Sri Lanka has with the two countries. India-Sri Lanka FTAallows Sri Lanka to export 4,200 products on zero duty while the FTA with Pakistan allows the same for 4,500 products”.

Sujeewa Senasinhe, State Minister for International Trade said the Bureau of Investment (BOI) and the EDB are doing everything they can to reap the maximum benefit from this renewed bilateral cooperation.

A large number of businesspeople from the two countries had the opportunity to forge business ties at this forum where Indira Malwatte, chairperson of the EDB was also present.

At present, there are more than 2,000 foreign workers in Champassak, including illegal workers who entered as tourists but have subsequently found work there and stayed on without legal documentation.

The provincial authorities began registering migrant workers over the years to address the issue while ensuring social order and protecting workers’ rights in anticipation of the Asean Economic Community coming into effect.

Most of the workers came from Vietnam and China, an official with the provincial Labour and Social Welfare Department said.

Department Director Khamsay Mueanluang told Vientiane Times on Friday that his staff would work closely with the provincial police to register about 200 migrant workers this year, up on last year’s figure of 100.

The migrant workers will pay an obligatory fee of 300,000 kip for three months or 1 million kip for one year visas to allow them to work in the province.

“Under the law, these workers should be repatriated. Their situations don’t meet the criteria required to submit a request for a work permit,” Khamsay said.

Khamsay said the workers needed to obtain the relevant documents before the deadline issued by authorities. If not, they might be repatriated.

He said many came to work for foreign-owned investment projects and had a legal work permit, but did not return home after the project finished and their documents expired.

The immigrants work mainly as hawkers, nail cutters and painters, beauticians, scrap metal collectors and buyers.

The provincial authorities plan to inform companies, factories and other business operators of their requirements in registering migrant workers, and companies would then provide a list of their foreign workers in accordan ce with the law, Khamsay added.

“The registering of foreigners for the year 2016 will start in the near future and the provincial authority expects to record at least 200 foreigners this year,” he said.

“The new measures are aimed at collecting information and identifying the number of foreigners working illegally so we can then assign resources to best regulate the situation and avoid the complexities of the past,” he added.

Khamsay called on everyone involved to cooperate in resolving the problem to make sure that foreign workers were registered.

It has been generally agreed that 2015 was a “bumper year” for Vietnam in terms of remittances, with HCM City alone receiving US$5.5 billion, slightly higher than the estimated $5.2 million.

This was also reflected in the impressive turnover recorded by remittance companies. Last year, Dong Á Money Transfer Company received $1.4 billion in overseas transfers and Sacombank’s Money Transfer divison posted a similar turnover of $1.5 billion.

In the first two months of this year alone, HCM City has received more than $900 million.

In spite of the strong growth, several experts say they are not so confident that remittances will be stable in the upcoming months and years.

Explaining their doubts, they say that the US Federal Reserve (FED) is likely to continue implementing its roadmap to increase the interest rate on the greenback, affecting the dong-dollar exchange rate, given that the State Bank of Vietnam has already decided to apply flexible adjustments based on market demand, and to reduce the interest rate on dollar deposits to zero per cent.

This would make overseas Vietnamese reluctant to transfer their savings to the country, since they would receive less benefits from the transfers, except in cases where they are investing in projects with high returns.

However, there are some experts expressing a contrary opinion, saying a significant growth in remittances is likely this year.

They say that the forex rate between dong and dollar would likely increase by three or five per cent this year, thus encouraging overseas Vietnamese to transfer more their savings to Vietnam to enjoy the benefits of a favourable exchange rate.

The clear recovery of the local real estate market, and the amended Housing Law that allows foreigners and overseas Vietnamese to own houses in Vietnam are also important factors likely to motivate overseas Vietnamese to transfer their money, they say.

The optimistic experts also say that the FED may delay its plan to increase the interest rate this year. They point to the Federal Open Market Committee’s observation that some main economic indicators of the US has slowed down recently as the US economy is impacted by financial and economic fluctuations of other major economies in the world.

For their part, domestic remittance companies say they expect a rather modest turnover growth of about 10 per cent this year.

For instance, the DongABank Money Transfer Company has set a target of $1.5 billion, just $100 million higher than last year.

Sacombank’s remittances turnover is estimated to grow by between 15 and 20 per cent, this year, bank officials say.

The United Kingdom and the Japan International Cooperation Agency have agreed to cooperate in an urban development planning project targeting Mandalay, Pathein of Ayeyarwaddy region and Mawlamyaing of Mon state.

The six-month data collection survey of the regional cities started in January.

The team consists of nine Japanese experts and one consultant from the UK who will work together with locals and government agencies.

“We are now reviewing policies, plans and the current conditions of the three cities.

“After the project, we aim to propose development visions, spatial and structure plans and a roadmap of priorities,” Kuniomi Hirano, representative of Nippon Koei Co, which has been involved in four development planning projects in Myanmar, said last week.

These cities were singled out for their economic potential, especially in tourism, he said.

Yangon is the biggest city in Myanmar with 7 million people, according to the 2014 national census.

According to the World Bank’s report on “East Asia’s Changing Urban Landscape: Measuring a decade of spatial growth”, Yangon’s population grew much faster than its urbanised area, at 2.6 per cent a year from 2.6 million people in 2000 to 3.4 million in 2010, against limited capacity to deal with associated problems like traffic congestion and sewage systems.

The collaboration of the UK and Japan followed the UK’s commitment to finance trade and infrastructure investment in Myanmar to the tune of US$300 million (Bt10.5 trillion).

British Ambassador Andrew Patrick said the UK plans to invest in massive projects, including roads and power.

British firms have a great deal of expertise in urban planning and are enthusiastic about sharing their experience with Myanmar, he said.

They are also very keen on working with the Japanese to support democracy, the rule of law and human rights.

“Infrastructure is one of the key pillars of the economy and democracy. Without infrastructure, the country will not grow and as a result, democracy will not grow,” he said.

Jica has been involved with several development projects in Myanmar in the past five years.

Keiichiro Nakazawa, chief representative of Jica’s Myanmar office, said urban planning was an extra project.

Whether it would be implemented and whether JICA would be part of the implementation depend on the new government.

This would entail huge investment. Road construction alone could demand about 160 billion kyat, he said.

both Japan and the UK are ready to conduct studies in other cities, asked by the new government.

“We are doing our best to help Myanmar people to be prosperous and socially vibrant,” he said.

Besides the 200-billion-kyat grant, JICA last year committed to a 1-trillion-kyat concessional loan, but it was not yet disbursed, he said.

Discussions with the new government are necessary for setting Jica’s new plans. Jica plans to finance more than 60 development projects in Myanmar, he said.

Financing is the biggest challenge for Myanmar’s development.

However, the capacity development of institutions that are managing the operations and maintenance of infrastructure is another key issue that Myanmar needs to address urgently.

“Without proper maintenance and without enough capacity to implement massive projects, improved infrastructure will not be sustained.

“So, the capacity development of institutions as well as human resources is very important,” he added.

A Thai Village in HCM City will be among several events to commemorate the long-lasting friendship of 40 years. It will include Thai trade fairs, a CEO night, book fair and student exchange programme.

“These activities demonstrate the multi-faceted relationship that our two countries have shared for the past four decade,” said Royal Thai Consul -General Panpimon Suwannapongse.

The festival will take place at the September 23rd Park in downtown HCM City. It will include a trade fair, cultural performance, and exhibition of Thai private business sector that have contributed to the growth of Vietnam’s vibrant economy.

There will be three main areas, including the trade fair for Thai products available in Vietnam, an exhibition hall for the Thai private sector, and a restaurant zone where people can sample authentic Thai cuisine from leading Thai restaurants in HCM City.

An on-stage cultural performance of Thai and Vietnamese artists will be organised every night.

“The three-day event will be a great opportunity for the Vietnamese public to learn more about Thailand as well as the bonds between our two nations,” she said.

The event, which will see the attendance of Thailand’s Minister of Culture and leaders of HCM City, will be free and open to the public. Money raised during the event will be donated to charity.

Bank Negara governor Tan Sri Zeti Akhtar Aziz says Malaysia is currently adjusting to the reforms introduced by the central bank to ensure the country will not be too vulnerable to factors such as the oil price decline.

She says the country would have been in “great difficulty” if measures such as the subsidy rationalisation, the goods and services tax (GST), financial reforms by Bank Negara, and policies to strengthen the financial institutions had not been implemented.

“But because we did all that, we can manage this transition period of adjustment,” she told reporters after delivering her keynote address at the Wharton Global Forum Kuala Lumpur 2016 yesterday.

Althought the period of adjustment could take up to two years, she says it would ultimately place Malaysia on a more solid platform.

“That is very important because otherwise, we will be very vulnerable to things like the oil price decline.

“Our economy is still growing and the factors that are affecting our growth now are transitionary factors.

“We will go through this period of adjustment, and then we should be able to resume our growth, because we have the underlying foundations,” she says.

Under the recalibrated Budget 2016, Malaysia’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth had been revised to a narrower range of 4 per cent-4.5 per cent for this year, compared with 4 per cent-5 per cent under the original budget.

Last year GDP stood at 5 per cent as opposed to 6 per cent in 2014,

Earlier in her speech, Zeti said while Asean economies had seen immense growth in intra regional trade and investment, financial integration in the region had not seen significant progress.

Progressive economic integration, she said, was a key factor that underpinned the region’s potential.

“Asean is one of the most diverse region in the world in term of its economic size, level of income, resource endowment, economic structure, the financial sector development and economic systems.

“The region has therefore leveraged on its diversity and this is reflected in the increase in cross-border production networks and the significant increase in intra regional trade and investment activities,” she says.

Since 1990, Asean intra-regional trade grew from 18 per cent to 24 per cent of its total trade, while intra-regional investment activities quadrupled, after the Asian Financial Crisis, from 4 per cent to 17 per cent now.

“Asean economies have now reached that stage whereby greater regional financial integration can unlock growth potential.

“Going forward the push for regional financial integration is something that central banks in the region need (to do) to bring about a more effective intermediation of funds, bringing the excess savings from one country, to be channelled to productive investments in another,” she says.

Zeti says the Asean region, having one of the highest savings rates in the world, has the potential to match some of the massive requirements for financing in certain parts of the region, for investment projects and infrastructure development.

Financial integration, she said, would facilitate the channelling of funds from surplus countries towards productive investments in opportunities in the region.

“It will contribute towards achieving more stable conditions in the regional financial markets,” she added. While Asean has drawn lessons from the European experience of monetary and financial integration, she says, the approach taken by Asean is distinctly differrent. Unlike the European Union, in which the formation of a monetary union with a single currency represents a major element in realising its economic integration, the Asean region had come to a decision some time ago, in the early 2000s based on a study by Asean central banks, that a common currency would not be pursued.

“This is because the Asean economies did not have the pre-conditions to achieve such a monetary union, and the effort to achieve such pre-conditions would involve immense cost to our economies.

“It was therefore concluded that the region would instead be better served by greater regional financial integration to achieve the very same objective of a shared economic prosperity for the region,” she said.

The Asean region has experienced a long term annual average growth of more than 5 per cent, much higher than the global average, and this is expected to be sustained going forward, she said. Collectively, Asean is now the sixth largest economy in the world with a population of 630 million and a combined GDP of US$2.5 trillion.

With a young population, Asean has the third largest labour force in the world, after China and India. By 2020, Asean is expected to account for more than US$2 trillion of additional consumption to the world economy.

“The AEC has often been misunderstood – there are a lot of myths surrounding it that worry people,” said Manpower Minister Muhammad Hanif Dhakiri in a meeting with the House of Representatives’ Commission IX overseeing labor affairs on Thursday.

“Many people think foreign workers will flock into the country, but that’s not entirely true,” he went on.

Hanif said the number of foreign workers coming to Indonesia had in fact decreased over the past five years, from 77,000 in 2011 to 69,000 in 2015. After the implementation of the AEC, foreign workers may only be employed in certain jobs, covering eight professions and 12 sectors. Most of the jobs are in the line of managers, directors, advisors, commissioners, expert technicians or expert supervisors, the minister explained.

The AEC is one of three ASEAN pillars, alongside the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC). The primary goal of the AEC is to create a single market among ASEAN nations. However, questions still arise among the public about the potential impacts of the AEC on the country’s business environment.

“People are worried that foreign workers will flood into Indonesia while our local workers are not yet ready to compete,” said lawmaker Djoni Rolindrawan at the meeting.

Hanif said the government planned to improve the quality of Indonesian workers, providing them with better education and training programs. School-age children should go to a good-quality school and uneducated people of productive age should be offered good-quality training courses in the field of their choice, he noted.

“The standard of our education and training programs should be balanced. If there is a certification program for teachers, there should also be an instructor certification program. If there are scholarships for students, there should be scholarship offers for trainees too,” said Hanif.