In addition, sufficient digital infrastructure should be put in place as it will considerably strengthen other modes of connectivity. The internet and mobile communication connectivity will radically change the ways in which businesses operate and people interact, as they drive productivity and efficiency of all sectors. It will also facilitate financial, transport and logistics services, as well as open door to knowledge sharing for people across the subregion. While digital technology is rapidly improving in some GMS countries, there remains large “digital divide” both within and between countries that should be narrowed. BIS central bankers’ speeches  1  The second aspect is trade and investment connectivity. Intra-regional trade and investment activities have continued to flourish, mainly thanks to complementarities among GMS economies. Many GMS countries have varied and abundant natural resources, young population and low labor costs, while the others can offer technological know-how and financing. With varying industry specializations, the diversity among GMS members has contributed to stronger regional supply chain network, and in the future should magnify national strengths towards a higher competiveness of the whole subregion. Amid thriving trade and investment, Thailand is well-positioned to serve the whole subregion, owing to our established legal framework, financing facility, infrastructure, logistics and IT capability. This can be seen by prospering business activities along the Thai border with other GMS countries. Last year, Thailand’s 25 border customs checkpoints with Myanmar, Laos and Cambodia registered impressive trade flows of more than 500 billion baht.

To promote regional connectivity on a sustained basis, it is vital that we strive to strengthen all these key aspects by joining forces of both the government and the private sector. Let me now address each of them one by one. The first and most fundamental is the physical infrastructure connectivity, for instance, through transportation channels, power lines and digital channels. The work to connect physical infrastructure will always be a work in progress. The past two decades have seen the fruits of various projects to close “missing links” in road, rail, waterway, and energy networks in the GMS. 19 permanent border crossing points have been established to connect Thailand with Laos, Myanmar and Cambodia. Energy connection within the subregion has been strengthened. Thailand, for example, bought 314 million USD worth of electricity from Laos each year, increasing about 8 times over the past ten years. A frequency of flights within the GMS, especially by low-cost airlines, has also risen markedly. Nevertheless, we still need to do a lot more to be better connected with each other. Many roads remain not fully operationalized or underutilized. Road transportation in the GMS is not seamless as it should be. In some routes, large trucks carrying containers still have to offload their goods to smaller vehicles to navigate the roads. Also, cross-border procedures remain obstacles to easy access of goods and people. Apart from building new infrastructure, it is therefore equally important to ensure that the existing ones are fully utilized to their potentials.