PM promotes Thai OTOPs

BANGKOK, June 14 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has urged public and private agencies concerned to help promote Thailand's community-based products, under the “One Tambon One Product” (OTOP) programme, on regional and global markets, as the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is scheduled to be formed by 2015. Yingluck has encouraged all the concerned agencies, especially state-run banks, to provide knowledge and financial access to local OTOP businesses and relevant small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in the form of "Financial Clinic", a three-year financial support totally worth 160 billion baht. According to the prime minister, the financial support offered to local OTOP businesses and relevant SMEs will help them develop and add values of their produce in order to penetrate the ASEAN and the global markets, earning Thailand hundreds of billions baht in the coming years. (TNA)