The Commerce Ministry's Trade Negotiations Department in cooperation
with the Board of Trade of Thailand will soon make proposals to promote the
competitiveness of Thai service enterprises when the sector is liberalised
under the Asean Economic Community by 2015.
After a meeting on "Service
Business: Strategy to AEC and Beyond", Srirat Rastapana, director-general
of the department, said serious attention should be given to four service
sectors - tourism, information technology, construction, and logistics - as
they are priorities for liberalisation this year.
A draft of the proposals,
including on the development of human resources and adjustment of business
operations, will be presented to the Cabinet for drawing up an action plan to
help the growth of service businesses, she said.
Thailand last year committed to
allowing other Asean member states to hold a majority share of 51 per cent in
businesses in these four segments. However, the cap remains 49 per cent because
of technical problems in the liberalisation process.
Ajva Taulananda, honorary
president of the Board of Trade and the Thai Chamber of Commerce, said private
Thai service enterprises should urgently bring their operations up to an
international standard, while focusing on foreign-language education for their
personnel. Enterprises should study the culture of each country in Asean to
increase business opportunities on trading and investing in the region.
Weerasak Kowsurat, former
minister of tourism and sports, said Thailand should stringently enforce its
laws to create fair practice for local and Asean investors under the AEC. Thai
enterprises should not consider Asean investors as competitors, but as good
partners to help strengthen businesses and expand overseas.
True Corp chief executive officer
Supachai Chearavanont said that although Thai telecommunications could not yet
compete with Singapore's, the Kingdom had good basic infrastructure and was
ready to become Asean's logistical centre.
Suwit Ratanachinda, an adviser to
the Thai International Freight Forwarder Association, said Thai logistical
competitiveness was lower than in other Asean countries. The Kingdom should
urgently develop basic infrastructure to provide better service and reduce
costs.
PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
Business & Investment Opportunities
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