Key points
- The Progressive Party, as the leader that forms the government, intends to generate income for the country by attracting investment. along with pushing exports
- One plan is to revive the post of Thai Trade Representative. and uniting relevant agencies under the Prime Minister’s Office to steer such policies.
- regarding the investment promotion plan Prepare to reduce the tax benefits of the BOI by 10%, but increase the investment promotion package as required by leading companies.
- Supporting industry targets are EV, upstream chips, and advanced semiconductors.
- Thailand has 5 FTAs under negotiation and finding new trading markets. TNSC recommends that the role of Thai trade representatives helps to negotiate clearly.
Recently, Thailand’s trade agreement negotiations have not made much progress. Some agreements cannot be concluded, such as the Comprehensive and Progressive Agreement for the Asia-Pacific Partnership (CPTPP), which has made Thailand less attractive for trade and investment.
While the Progressive Party forms a coalition of 8 political parties, it has a foreign policy that will bring Thailand back to play more roles in international discussions.
The Kao Klai Party has proposed the establishment of the Thai Trade Representative Office (TTRO), a government agency equivalent to a department that reports directly to the Prime Minister. It is responsible for international trade negotiations with countries that are not original dialogue partners. This includes parties without full state status and counterparts with other special status. so as not to affect the government’s official international relations
The establishment of the Thai Trade Representative Office will transfer authority, budget, personnel or different departments Also in the Thai Trade Representative office In the past, there used to be a Thai Trade Representative office in the government. “Thaksin Shinawatra” But it was abolished in 2007 during the government “General Surayud Chulanont” Due to redundancies with the Ministry of Commerce
Miss Sirikanya Tansakul, deputy leader of the party and leader of the Progressive Party’s economic team He said that in the current trade negotiations, it must be done in conjunction with investment negotiations, such as the Free Trade Agreement (FTA), investment in special economic zones. As the government advances far, it has a policy to revive the establishment of the Thai Trade Representative Office again to fulfill this duty.
The guidelines will include agencies involved in international trade and economic negotiations. To be included in the work of the Thai Trade Representative (TTR) in order to have a strategy for collaboration in foreign negotiations. investment attraction and export promotion
There is an idea to integrate agencies involved in international negotiations with the TTRO, such as the Department of International Economic Affairs. The discussions of the Department of Commerce International Trade Promotion Department Permanent Representative of Thailand to the World Trade Organization (WTO) and the International Economic Policy Committee (NFE) to be included in the same agency with a new body that reports directly to r Prime Minister.
In terms of modifying the role of the Board of Investment (BOI), the Progressive Party does not have a policy to cancel an investment promotion. or cancel the BOI given to investors But it will adjust measures and support some measures such as reducing corporate income tax in line with BOI promotion measures It is expected to reduce about 10% of the original tax exemption in this section for investors about 80,000 million baht per year, will be reduced by about 8,000 million baht per year and bring this amount of money to make a package investment that meets the needs of the private sector that Thailand wants to invest more by adjusting measures for the BOI to be supportive measures and attract more targeted investments in line with the current situation
“The current tax cuts in targeted industries should be looked at. And tax measures with tax deductions of 8 – 13 years are not currently in the form of investment promotion because there must be other investment support measures that meet the needs of investment packages that must be carefully considered All are needed an investor we want to invest in. .”
Aim to support upstream chip investment
For investment promotion opportunities in Thailand, it is currently an important industry in the electric vehicle (EV) industry and the semiconductor industry.
including the upstream chip industry Currently, Thailand has the opportunity to support investment in these industries that will move their production centers to invest in ASEAN. Including more Thailand due to the problem of “Geopolitical Conflict” and conflict between the great powers of the United States and China Which Thailand will benefit from investment in this part of the relocation of the production base by maintaining the neutral status of Thailand in order to ensure’ the greatest possible benefit from relocating the production base to Thailand Up to reducing the risk of geopolitical conflict between the great powers of the world.
TNSC recommends clear roles of trade representatives
Mr. Chaichan Charoensuk, Chairman of the National Council of Carriers of Thailand (NASC). He said the idea of establishing a Thai trade representative had been around for a long time. It was felt, in principle, that the trade representatives’ powers and duties must be set to be more efficient. Communication at home and abroad must be clear. including setting clear goals
“The Progressive Party’s idea or proposal in establishing a Thai Trade Representative Office I’m still not sure what the structure will look like so I have to look at the concept and the responsibility. So now I don’t want to comment too much because I haven’t seen the details yet.
Thailand is waiting for clear negotiations on 5 FTAs
Currently, Thailand is in the process of negotiating an FTA with 5 agreements, which include
1.Thailand-United Arab Emirates (UAE) FTA Or discuss the Economic Partnership Agreement (CEPA), which will hold the 1st meeting between 16-18 May 2023, with the aim of completing it within 6 months.
2.Thailand-European Union (EU) FTA The first meeting will be held in September 2023 and is expected to take 2 years and finish in 2025.
3. Thailand FTA – European Free Trade Association: EFTA) It consists of four member countries: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein. Started negotiations in June 2022 and aims to conclude negotiations as soon as possible within 2 years or in 2024
4.Thailand-Sri Lanka FTA It started in 2018 and has currently negotiated 4 rounds and has scheduled a 5th round of negotiations in June 2023 with the aim of concluding the results in early 2024.
a 5. ASEAN-Canada FTA By starting the first round of negotiations in 2022, the latest round of negotiations was held in April 2023, which this year is preparing to hold 2 more rounds of meetings, with the aim of concluding the negotiations within 2024.
while the Thai-Türkiye FTA The last meeting has made steady progress. But now there is a new election, we will have to wait for the new government before starting negotiations again. Regarding the Thai-Pakistan FTA, which has been disrupted due to internal problems, it is expected that negotiations will resume soon.
There are also plans to negotiate with new trading partners. To increase more Thai trade markets are placed Israel, Bhutan, South Korea, including the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC), which consists of 6 countries: Bahrain, Kuwait, Oman, Saudi Arabia, Qatar and United Arab Emirates. The Pacific Alliance includes four countries, Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru, and a group of 55 African countries.
