Thai South to become regional economic gateway

CHUMPHON, THAILAND, August 22 (TNA) - The southern Thai region will be developed to become a regional economic gateway, connecting with other Asian-Pacific economies, especially other member countries of the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC). Government Spokesman Lieutenant General Sansern Kaewkamnerd told journalists of the resolution on August 21, after the end of the Thai Cabinet's two-day mobile meeting in the southern Ranong and Chumphon Provinces. The spokesman said that the Thai Cabinet's resolution, covering the development of Ranong to become a new "Smart City", is aimed to draw in and cater for more foreign investment projects and tourists in the southern Thai region. The spokesman stated that the Thai Cabinet has assigned the Ministries of Interior, Digital Economy and Society and Tourism and Sports to work together to materialize the policy. The spokesman acknowledged that as part of the policy, the Thai Cabinet has endorsed four frameworks, including the development of a western gateway in the Thai South, where local goods will be exported to foreign markets through the government-supported Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC); the development of a Gulf of Thailand and Andaman tourism gateway to welcome more international tourist arrivals in Thailand; the development of local bio-based industries, particularly those of such high value-added farm food products as processed fruits, rubber and fishery products in order to turn the Thai South to become a new hub of processed farm food and fishery goods and the conservation of natural resources and tourism cultures, covering the marine forest and mangrove forest resources. According to the spokesman, the policy for the Thai South, thus, focuses on the upgrade of local production, where more value-added farm goods will be produced, along with the development of the local innovative creativity based on the concept of the "agro bio economy" to strengthen the southern Thai economy, where oil palm, natural rubber and rubber wood are major economic crops. The BIMSTEC bloc, which is a focal part of the government's new policy, comprises of Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka and Thailand. (TNA)