Dynamic Thailand

DEPA (Digital Economy Promotion Agency) is preparing to host the “ASEAN Smart Cities Network (ASCN)” meeting from August 22 to 24, 2019 at the GMM Live House, Central World, Bangkok. The purpose of the meeting is to foster exchange in knowledge about urban development and smart cities. The ideas and information gathered through the meeting will be presented at the 35th ASEAN Summit meeting in November 2019. 

The Ministry of Commerce is campaigning the concept of a circular economy, an economic system aimed at eliminating waste through recycling , as a measure to reduce waste and increase value-added production. The International Trade Promotion Department will campaign to start reducing waste from housing and decorative items and then move onto products made from agricultural raw materials.

Monoculture in rice farming has become a problem in Ubon Ratchathani Province as the natural soil condition had deteriorated, making many areas in the province unsuitable for growing rice. To solve this problem, the Ubon Ratchathani Land Development Office is helping farmers in Ubon Ratchathani Province to transition from monoculture rice farming to integrated farming. Aside from being a suitable practice for improving soil quality in Ubon Ratchathani, integrated farming also promotes sustainable farming practices by offering farmers various alternative crops, year-round.

A proposal to use rubber latex produced in Thailand by the Ministry of Transport in its construction projects has been approved. This proposal will help shore up rubber prices, making sure that some of the future construction projects will use at least 30% locally made materials such as rubber latex. This requirement will be enforced by law, and is expected to help increase the use of rubber latex in the construction projects from 30% to 50% in the future.

                When one thinks of Thai arts, one may imagine scenes of gold, shinning crystal mirrors, luxurious silk, and intricately carved wooden figures. Indeed, those are celebrated components of Thai arts, but there is one lesser known material that has been used by Thai craftsmen since ancient times: jewel beetle wings.

The Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP) introduces 50 new Thai product brands with export capacity and a yearly profit of 1 to 10 million baht. The majority of these products are food, drinks, fashion items, and innovative products. Through DITP’s cooperation with King Power, products from selected brands that went through the development program of the New Economy Academy (NEA) will be placed on sales at airports across the country.

The United States has signed an agreement to invest in the Thai energy developer “Blue Solar Co., Ltd” for its feasibility study of a solar power project in Thailand. The US involvement in this project is part of its Indo-Pacific commitment, with the aim of boosting the Asia aid initiative for the energy sector, and infrastructure development for digital connectivity in Indo-Pacific region.

The Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) in Mumbai has recently joined hands with the tourism boards of ASEAN member states and India to hold the “ASEAN-Indian Film Festival” from August 9 to 11 at the National Museum of Indian Cinema, India. The purpose of the festival was to promote film tourism and filming opportunities in ASEAN. Selected films from ASEAN countries were also screened at the festival.

The Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA) won HR Asia Best Companies to Work for in Asia 2019 (Thailand Edition) award, which is organized by HR Asia of Business Media International (Malaysia). PEA was the only Government Enterprise to have won this honorable award. HR Asia is Asia’s largest publication tailored for Senior HR professionals, offering information on business intelligence and industry updates.

The Department of International Trade Promotion (DITP), Microsoft (Thailand) Limited, and Backyard Co., Ltd are joining hands to search for the next top software developer through the “Hackathon” tournament.  Software developers, data scientists, economists, and contestants from other related professions are invited to propose guidelines for designing data collection research models and analyses, as well as developing a standard data warehouse system through the use of artificial intelligence (AI).