the bank of thailand has taken steps to guard against the potential development of such risk, by establishing macro - surveillance framework that provides early warning about areas that may be under threat. in practice, thailand is also among the first countries to implement “ macro - prudential policy ”, the application of supervisory and regulatory policy in pursuit of system - wide financial stability. the second policy priority is to continue enhancing the efficiency of financial intermediation. the bank of thailand will encourage a more widespread provision of hedging instruments and will seek to improve financial access especially for small and medium - sized businesses and retail customers. in addition, for businesses, people and government agencies to receive fast, safe and efficient payment services, the bank of thailand will work with all related parties to promote electronic payments such as using money transfer instead of cheque usage and using debit card instead of cash payment, which would reduce payment costs and allow government and businesses to manage cash more efficiently. the goal is to ensure that all parts of the economy benefit from the strong and stable financial system, an aspect of what constitutes an “ inclusive growth ”. the third and last policy element is consumer protection. consumers of financial services have the rights to good quality of services and fair protection. the bank of thailand encourages financial institutions to disclose all relevant information, including fees, to consumers before providing services to them. financial institutions should also educate their customers, and provide financial services that are suitable both in terms of business and risk management capability of the customers, followed by dedicated after - sales services. improvements along these lines will further strengthen growth inclusiveness. other policies the bank of thailand will also seek to strengthen the economy through its other functions. in managing international reserves, the bank of thailand advocates further diversification by expanding the investment asset universe, as permitted by the new royal decree. the bank of thailand also supports a speedy repayment of outstanding fidf debt, based on the principles of monetary policy independence and long - term fiscal discipline. while monetary and financial stability certainly provide a favourable backdrop, the economy cannot prosper on the back of these alone. the nation ’ s competitiveness, in particular, needs to be strengthened and improved further. the private sector should continue to place greater emphasis on innovation and seek to compete on the basis of quality rather than prices. the public sector, meanwhile, must ensure that a sufficient part of budget is set aside for infrastructure investment on a sustained basis, which will help improve the productivity and benefit all parts of the economy

non - tariff barriers, including subsidies, restrictions, and sensitive industry classification. and as of 1 january 2010, asean - 6 applied zero tariffs to 99 percent of goods, while the clmv countries plan to achieve the same goal by 2015. a unified trading region will facilitate development of production networks, bridge fragmented trade opportunities, and allow asean to become central to global supply chains. this model is supportive of asia ’ s new growth model of a regional production hub and increasing intraregional trade. moreover, it is a key development strategy for asean to ride with rising asia as part of an even bigger economic hub of asean + 3 and asean + 6. the + 3 include china, japan, and korea, with the + 6 expanding to cover india, australia, and new zealand. in addition to trade liberalization in goods, liberalization in services will also spur competition. this in turn would lead to lower prices and increased quality of services, as well as better transfer of know - how from outside and within the region, in areas such as business bis central bankers ’ speeches organization and management, and risk management capacity through foreign participation in financial services, for example. but, since services liberalization can involve short term adjustment costs, its progress has been subject to domestic regulations as a country ’ s institutional and regulatory environment needs to be strengthened before and during liberalization in order to reap eventual benefits. a single market and production base for asean cannot be complete without the free flow of skilled labor. it is also complementary to other freedoms, such as freedom of capital flows ( particularly fdi ) and services, and together they have important implications for productivity growth and investment. indeed, it is logical to expect that asean integrated business organizations would be more effectively run by regional than local managers. this is because regional managers have incentives to optimize the economies of scale and scope through the use of regional factors of production to achieve competitiveness. moreover, regional managers are likely to promote more regional - oriented investment, which means outward investment, direct as well as portfolio, from one local economy into other local economies within and outside asean. ladies and gentlemen, turning to the dimension of readiness, asean labor mobility pertains only to skilled labor at present. various country specific regulations continue to prevent completely free labor mobility. while greater mobility should yield substantial economic benefits especially for integration objectives, opponents of labor mobility tend to highlight the short term potential threats, particularly the “ brain - drain ” away from home countries. mobility also