DSD-Japan join hands ahead of Thailand 4.0

BANGKOK, March 21 (TNA) -- Thailand's Department of Skill Development (DSD) has joined hands with Japan to develop the skill of labours in three industries to welcome the Thailand 4.0 scheme. DSD Director-General Theerapol Khunmuang said that the Labour Ministry through the DSD has drafted up a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) on human resources cooperation with Japan's Tottori prefecture with an aim to promote SMEs in both Thailand and Tottori in answer to the growing industries of automobile, medical equipment, and airplane parts. He said Tottori is one of the nine prefectures in Japan which has allocated a budget from the country's public health, labour, and welfare ministry to operate project to improve labour quality in a bid to revive the region in line with local unique economic patterns which could not be supported by the state. Mr Theerapol said Tottori prefecture are well known for all of the three targeted industries. He said the recent cooperation would focus mainly on automobile industry, as Thailand is seeing a continuous expansion in this field, prompting the government to target in turning Thailand into a hub for automobile production in ASEAN and to become one of the leading country for this sector in Asia. The government, he said has set the automobile industry as of one of the ten New Engine of Growth, noting that the field is lacking labours, both in quantity and quality, and the cooperation would help solve the problem while also strengthen bilateral relationship between Thailand and Japan. Furthermore, the cooperation on medical equipment and airplane parts would also be increased in answer to the 20-year national strategic plan on human developments and capability improvement, as well as in accordance to the labour ministry's 20-year plan to develop labours to welcome the Thailand 4.0 scheme. (TNA)