The Thai Chamber of Commerce (TCC) and Board of Trade of Thailand on Sunday urged the government to speed up investment in provincial development projects to revitalise the economy.
Sanan Angubolkul, chairman of the TCC, wrapped up a three-day seminar in Ubon Ratchathani with a call for the government to accelerate investment across the country and a list of urgent projects that need a push to stimulate growth.
The so-called white paper was handed over to Deputy Prime Minister and Energy Minister Supattanapong Punmeechaow for the government to come up with a policy to increase competitiveness and capacity building for SMEs.
The urgent projects for the Northeast are the rail system development linking Thailand, Laos and China; the Northeastern Economic Corridor (NEEC) to connect with the Greater Mekong Subregion; and promoting the production of jasmine rice under the Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) economic model.
For the North, the priorities are the Northern Economic Corridor (NEC); the northern industrial estate for innovations and technologies and creative economic area in Chiang Mai; the development of a special economic zone; the water management master plan; and development of the double-track rail projects.
Promotion of cultural and historical tourism is listed as an urgent project for the Central region while the 2024 EEC fair to draw foreign investments in the S-curve sectors and the development of the Southern Coastal Sub-Corridor top the list for the Eastern region.
As for the South, the Andaman Wellness Economic Corridor (AWC) covering Phuket, Phangnga, Krabi and Ranong is considered essential to raise competitiveness in the health and wellness sector, observers said.
Mr Sanan said next year marks the 90th anniversary of the TCC which will be celebrated under the theme "connect, competitive and sustainable".
"Although the global economy is fraught with vulnerability, we believe the Thai economy can grow. The TCC projects the GDP to grow between 3.5%-4% and the export sector to grow 3%-5%," he said.
Mr Supattanapong, who delivered a special lecture at the event, expressed confidence the local economy would see strong growth with China and Japan already on board and Saudi Arabia and several countries in Latin America ready to invest in the country.
During the three-day event, the TCC put on a focus on sustainability, with a target of reducing the current harmful emissions rate 10,599.54 kilogrammes of CO2e.