Thailand joins Breakfast Meeting with USABC in NY

NEW YORK, UNITED STATES, September 27 (TNA) - Thailand and other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) joined a Breakfast Meeting with the US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC) in New York on Friday (local time) on the sidelines of the 69th Session of the United Nations General Assembly. During the meeting, attended by Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn, leading US business operators demanded that ASEAN member countries, including Thailand, undertake reforms on customs procedures, reduce corporate tax and enforce laws efficiently and transparently. The US business operators also wanted to see development of workers in ASEAN to serve industrial expansion in the region, especially after the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of 2015. Senior executives from more than 130 leading American firms which are USABC members and are currently doing businesses in Thailand and other ASEAN member countries participated in the breakfast meeting. General Tanasak reportedly told them that he met USABC Chairman in July 2014 and is pleased to welcome USABC members during their planned visit to Thailand in November. The deputy premier informed the USABC that the interim Thai government is now moving along a roadmap outlined by the army-led National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) toward a national reform and democracy, during which some Thai laws, including customs tax, will be amended, while industrial production will be improved. (TNA)