people - to - people connectivity. close proximity, improved infrastructure, and economic connection in the subregion have brought people to connect, either through labor movements or tourism. at present, it is estimated that above 2 million foreign workers in thailand are from clmv countries, contributing in various sectors. each year, based on official records, they remit over 10 billion baht back to their home countries. with regard to tourism, around 2 million visitors from clmv have made thailand their destination every year. in the future, people connectivity should not be confined only to labor movement and tourism, but should develop into strengthened knowledge - sharing networks. gms economies are in need to move up and integrate our value chains, and it is the people with skills, knowledge and innovative spirit who can make this happen. strengthening knowledge networks for tertiary education, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing among industries will be a bedrock for building the subregion ’ s capacity, and help harmonize different rules and regulations. for thailand, i am glad to see that we have increasingly offered educational training to citizens of the gms. recently, thai universities have offered international courses, aiming to attract students from gms countries, who express greater interest to study in thailand. health is another important dimension of people connectivity. an increasing number of citizens from the gms have chosen to receive medical services from thai hospitals. i am certain that this trend will continue to rise in the future. ladies and gentlemen, let me now turn to the fourth aspect of regional integration, financial connectivity, which is a principle area of policy that the bank of thailand, in collaboration with other agencies, will continue to drive going forward. better connected financial systems support and underpin all other aspects of connectivity. infrastructure development, trade and investment activities, and people mobility need wellfunctioned financial infrastructure and proper eco - system in order to thrive. in the past decade, financial regulators of gms countries have made noticeable progress to promote financial connectivity. examples include introducing a more accommodative regulatory regime to allow lao entities to raise funds from the thai capital market. as a result, since 2013, the lao government and firms have issued baht - denominated bonds, worth 28 billion baht in total, to bis central bankers ’ speeches support infrastructure projects in laos. for the banking sector, the bank of thailand has encouraged banks to expand their regional presence to support growing trade and investment. as of now, there are 30 branches and subsidiaries of thai commercial

on “ the facilitation of financial conglomerates to realize economies of scale and scope as well as streamlined regulatory structure base on functional not institutional distinction ” will become more and more relevant in the future as consolidation and diversification within our financial system lead to similar types of business model. coming up with a broad vision is comparatively a simple task ; the real challenge is to work out the details of how we plan to modernize of our financial system. here, we have to articulate our vision and implementation strategies together from both practitioners ’ and regulators ‘ point of view. we have to : − identify potential unfulfilled need for financial services in the medium term so that we can adequately accommodate needs of our consumers and corporate in the real sector. these include financing of small and medium - sized enterprises as well as long - term financing. − determine problems, obstacles, and bottlenecks within our financial infrastructures as well as tax issues that will constraint us from achieving our full potential ; − revisit the existing specified scopes of businesses for each types of financial institutions and determine appropriate structures for our financial conglomerates, taking into consideration the increasingly blurring of traditional lines that have previously separated commercial banking, investment banking, and insurance businesses from one another ; − prioritize our aims and construct appropriate benchmarks to set clear targets of development and measure our performance ; − and, of course, re - examine the current regulatory structure once the market reform is already underway. ladies and gentlemen you may ask how you can be involved? in the next nine months, our staff will conduct background studies, commission additional research papers, and take inputs from relevant stakeholders through market interviews and focus groups. we invite you to actively participate in our public consultation process and encourage you to take initiatives by making public submission on topics which you feel are critical for the development of our desired financial system. though most of our work and recommendations will focus on financial institutions under the supervision of the bank of thailand, we expect that the outcome of this process will provide a common framework for policy - making among the supervisory authorities in thailand and serve as a shared foundation for coordinating our efforts between the private and public sectors in transforming our financial infrastructures towards a deeper, more efficient, balanced and sound system. as we move forward, this plan together with the new financial institutions act currently under consideration by the joint committee of the senate and the lower house, the deposit insurance act, and the supervisory standard as will be specified in the new basel accord