Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin urged Asian nations to be resilient and to work together during a speech made on Friday in Tokyo, Japan.
Mr Srettha told attendees at the 29th Nikkei Forum Future of Asia that it is imperative that Asian nations work closely in what he called the “Asian Century”, said deputy government spokesperson Radklao Inthawong Suwankiri.
The importance of resilience within Asia, Mr Radklao said, was a key part of the prime minister’s keynote speech titled “Asian Leadership in an Uncertain World”.
The spokesperson relayed that Mr Srettha said that in this “Asian Century”, cooperation is tantamount as Asia is an economic powerhouse with a population of over 4.78 billion people.
The prime minister mentioned three issues that require Asia’s collective effort, the first being trade and investment, as economic progress is the foundation of peace and stability.
For the past decade, Mr Srettha said Asia has been negatively impacted by the spillover of the world’s geopolitical conflicts. Looking towards the future, Asia should continue to lend its support to the multilateral trading system, with the WTO at its core.
He said Asia must continue to deliver a free, open, fair, non-discriminatory, transparent, and inclusive trade and investment environment, such as Asean+1 Free Trade Agreements with partners including Japan. Mr Srettha said that FTA negotiations should be a top priority.
The second issue Mr Srettha talked about was the green transition, which requires a global effort on all fronts. In Thailand, the government will have the first-ever Climate Change Act within the next few years.
The kingdom also aims to create a comprehensive electric vehicle (EV) supply chain industry. The initial goal is to increase the production of zero-emission EVs to 30% by 2030, he said. However, the government will still support Japanese producers of internal combustion engine vehicles in this transition period.
The prime minister also mentioned Asean’s collective efforts to build the “Asean Power Grid”, which will help increase renewable energy use in the region. Thailand alone plans to increase its share of clean and renewable energy in power production to at least 50% by 2040, he said.
Third is digitalisation, with Mr Srettha saying he wants to create not only a digital economy but a fully-fledged digital society. Asean is currently negotiating the Digital Economy Framework Agreement, and once completed, it will become the world’s first regional agreement. It is projected to double the value of the region’s digital economy to US$2 trillion (73 trillion baht) by 2030.
He expressed a belief that these three things will bring Asia closer together but added that each Asian country has a shared responsibility to play its role in this. Asia, he said, must maintain collective leadership to re-ignite growth and restore trust in the global system.