work together to promote r & d investment which then lead to value creation for the economy. in addition, businesses could speed up the r & d process by seeking regional alliance opportunity with strategic partner who can provide complementary advantage to us in the area. as for the bank of thailand, we continue to improve the efficiency, hence the productivity, of the financial sector through the financial sector master plan ii. it aims to eliminate unnecessary regulatory burdens, increase competition and improve financial infrastructure as well as elevate financial literacy with sufficient consumer protection. the payment system is also being improved. the imaged cheque clearing and archive system or the icas, which allows physical cheques to be replaced by images in exchanges between commercial bank, is expected to be implemented within this year for the bangkok and vicinity area and for the whole kingdom at a later stage. this more efficient payment infrastructure will eventually make thailand a “ one - day cheque clearing country ”, which is a way to reduce financial cost of the private sector. ladies and gentlemen, all parties can help improving the country ’ s productivity and let me now end my talk by stressing that our good economic fundamental and diversity make this country resilient to negative shocks. returning to normalcy is one resilient feature but bis central bankers ’ speeches moving the country forward in a global competitive arena will be ever more a challenging task. a strong will alone is not enough, all parties, including thai and foreign, public or private entity alike, must communicate, coordinate and take action in unity. i believe that with everyone ’ s efforts, we can prevail with prosperity for all. thank you. bis central bankers ’ speeches

prasarn trairatvorakul : thailand ’ s economic outlook in 2011 opening remarks b dr prasarn trairatvorakul, governor of the bank of thailand, for the jsccib seminar titled “ thailand ’ s investment environment – looking forward ”, bangkok, 21 july 2011. * * * mr. chartsiri sophonpanich, chairman of the joint standing committee on commerce, industry and banking ( jsccib ), mr. dusit nontanakorn, chairman of the board of trade of thailand, mr. payungsak chartsutipol, chairman of the federation of thai industries, mr. nandor g. von der luehe, chairman of the joint foreign chambers of commerce in thailand ( jfcct ), distinguished speakers and guests, it is my honor and a pleasure to be here today, to give our distinguished audience an opening remark for this seminar, organized by the jsccib in cooperation with the jfcct1. the theme, “ thailand ’ s investment environment : looking forward ” is most timely and is of everyone ’ s interest. i am sure that the discussion and exchange of views and ideas presented throughout the day will be fruitful and beneficial to both public and private sector alike. before entering into a full - fledged panel discussion, i would like to give you, as an overture, an overview of thailand ’ s economic outlook in 2011, focusing on two parts. the first part will convey that 2011 is the year of normalization in several aspects, and the second part is to look beyond this ongoing normalization process and lays the basis for many challenges ahead. ladies and gentlemen, over the past years, the thai economy has been very resilient to numerous economic shocks, ranging from the oil price shock, natural disasters such as flood and drought, series of political uncertainties as well as the 2008 global financial crisis. nevertheless, thailand ’ s average annual growth rate for the last decade registered at 4. 4 percent which is within the range of our estimated potential growth. the bank of thailand expects economic growth for this year to return to this normal trend, with moderate growth in the first half of the year and steady growth in the second half after the supply chain disruption unwound. this is the first aspect of returning to normalcy, or growth normalization, which is a feature of resilient economy. such economic expansion is on the back of sound external and domestic demand. on the