วันพฤหัสบดีที่ 17 มีนาคม 2565
​​PM delivers keynote speech at 7th Bloomberg ASEAN Business Summit
​​PM delivers keynote speech at 7th Bloomberg ASEAN Business Summit
March 16, 2022, at 16.55 hrs (Thailand time), Prime Minister and Defense Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-o-cha delivered a recorded keynote speech via a videoconference at the 7th Bloomberg ASEAN Business Summit. He was among the distinguished speakers, which include Republic of Singapore’s Minister for Foreign Affairs Vivian Balakrishnan; Republic of Singapore’s Minister for Education Chan Chun Sing; and Minister of Finance of Indonesia Sri Mulyani Indrawati. Government Spokesperson Thanakorn Wangboonkongchana disclosed gist of his keynote speech as follows:
The Prime Minister expressed pleasure to share his vision on “Bringing growth back to pre-pandemic levels”. It is the primary agenda of Thailand, as well as of every country in the world, to review, identify strengths, and move forward toward stable recovery. In 2021, Thai economy has continued to recover, and economic growth of 3.5-4.5% is expected in 2022 thanks to an increasing domestic demand, continuous export growth, and recovery of tourism sector.
The Prime Minister took the opportunity to share his thoughts on the importance of the following 3 approaches:
1. Sustainability: Promoting balanced economic growth through adoption of the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) Economic Model as a national agenda. Environment-friendly and socially-responsible business operation should be prioritized.
2. Strength: Applying science, technology, and innovation in the development of economic sectors that are the nation’s strength, and enhancing capacity of MSMEs entrepreneurs in the post-COVID-19 era, as well as promoting sustainable, resilient, diversified, and stable regional supply chain
3. Inclusivity: Creating ecosystem conducive to business operation, especially the digital economy, to enhance economic capacity and cope with future challenges.
At the regional level, the Prime Minister underscores continued recovery of ASEAN and its stature as trade and investment hub. It is expected that ASEAN economy grows by 5.2% this year, and if ASEAN economy grows back to the pre-pandemic levels, the region’s GDP would be moved ahead to becoming the fifth-largest in the world within 2030. The Prime Minister believes that regional economic integration would increase economic dynamism and promote ASEAN’s inclusive growth.
The Prime Minister is of the view that the region expedite realization of the ‘Digital ASEAN’ for strong and sustainable growth through public-private partnership, support from ASEAN’s dialogue partners and external parties, and ASEAN sustainable finance initiatives. He expressed confidence on ASEAN business sector’s potential, resilience and capability to seek new opportunities after the COVID-19. Public-private partnership will play a crucial role in the development of ecosystem conducive to sustainable, strong, and environment-friendly business operation for regional growth. Thailand strives to drive forward ASEAN Community and reinforce regional integration, for ASEAN to become global and regional economic driving force.
The Prime Minister took the opportunity to mention Thailand’s hosting of APEC 2022 under the theme: “Open. Connect. Balance.” The country’s priorities are to promote economic integration, while taking into account new challenges arisen from the changing global context and restoration of the region’s safe and seamless connectivity, which are keys to post-COVID-19 sustainable, inclusive, and balanced economic recovery.