Egypt, Thailand to adopt five-year joint action plan in economic activity: Thai ambassador

Over the last four
decades, Thailand has achieved remarkable progress in social and
economic development, moving from a low-income country to an
upper-income country in less than a generation, according to the
ambassador of Thailand to Egypt Chainarong Keratiyut-wong, who was a
guest at a roundtable held by Daily News Egypt, along with
representatives from the Thai embassy in Cairo, on Wednesday. The
roundtable discussed all aspects of bilateral cooperation, as well as
Thailand boosting its economy experience and tourism refreshment, at the
newspaper’s headquarters.

4 Thai cuisine demo series organised
in 2018 including on 26 June, 17 July, 25 July and 7 August
Notably the other guests that attended the meeting were minister
counsellor for commercial affairs at the embassy, Thalerngsak
Vongsamsorn and the embassy’s first secretary responsible for cultural
cooperation, Juthakeart Montapaneewat, as well as the assistant of
commercial affairs counsellor, Sherif Yahia.

During the roundtable,
the embassy’s representatives revealed that the Egyptian Ministry of
Trade and Industry and the Thai Ministry of Commerce have a plan to hold
a joint trade committee meeting at a ministerial level to discuss
various economic issues, in order to further expand trade and investment
cooperation between both countries.

In the planned meeting, both
countries will also adopt a five-year joint action plan generally
related to economic activities, which is now drafted and considered by
relevant agencies of both countries.

The plan will cover various
economic sectors including trade and investment, small to medium
enterprises (SMEs)s promotion, tourism etc and will be a guideline for
the implementation of cooperative projects in identifying sectors of
both countries.

The transcript for which is below, lightly edited for clarity:

n

gInitiallyW, what are latest indicators of Thailand’s economic growth?

The ambassador: Over the last four decades, Thailand has achieved
remarkable progress in social and economic development, moving from a
low-income country to an upper-income country in less than a generation.
As such, Thailand has been one of the widely cited development success
stories, with sustained strong growth and impressive poverty reduction,
particularly in the 1980s.

Thailand’s economy grew at an average
annual rate of 7.5% in the boom years of 1960 to 1996 at 5% following
the Asian financial crisis during 1999-2005, creating millions of jobs
that helped pull millions of people out of poverty. Gains along multiple
dimensions of welfare have been impressive as more children are now
getting increased years of education, and virtually everyone is now
covered by health insurance while other forms of social security have
expanded.

After average growth slowed to 3.5% over 2005-2015, with a
dip to 2.3 % in 2014-2016, Thailand is now on the path to recovery.
Economic growth reached 3.9% in 2017, which is the best growth
performance since 2012 and is expected to expand further to 4.1% in
2018.

Ambassador Chainarong Keratiyut-wong 

(Photo by Asmaa Gamal)
​How do you assess Egypt’s economic reforms?

It seems everything is
moving in the right direction at the macroeconomic level,
including increasing reserves, tourist arrivals, remittances, Suez
revenues, export, decreasing trade deficits, budget deficits,
inflation. Step-by-step the reduction of public utility subsidies
(electricity, water, gas, fuel, transportation) with a social safety net
scheme like Takaful and Karama help to reduce the impact on low income
groups and are unavoidable to get out of this crisis.

The country
needs not waste anything. More costly public utilities will make people
become more economical and lead to efficient use of these subsidized
products.

No pain, no gain, but the pain should be at levels people
can endure. After more than three decades of subsidies, it is going to
be difficult to adjust to new realities of living without it.

Egyptians need to be patient before they can feel the positive effects
of these drastic, but unavoidable economic measures. However, the plight
of people is also understandable. So the government needs to walk
cautious steps in its economic policy.

What about latest figures of bilateral trade exchange?

Minister counsellor for commercial affairs: Egypt ranks number one as
Thailand’s trading partner in North African countries with trade
proportion in 2017 accounting for 40% of total trade between Thailand
and North African countries, followed by Algeria (23%), Libya (13%),
Morocco (8%), Tunisia (6%), and Sudan (4%), respectively.

Total
trade between Egypt-Thailand from January to June 2018 is $457m, which
is considered a 30.2% mincrease from the same period of last year

Total trade between Egypt-Thailand in 2017 was $765.20m, decreasing with
9.2% from the year 2016, due to the flotation of the Egyptian pound in
November 2016.

Major export products of Thailand to Egypt
are automotive and parts, canned tuna, rubber products, machinery and
parts, electrical appliances, chemical products etc, while major import
products of Thailand from Egypt are iron and steel, fertiliser, fabrics,
chemical, garments, cement, fruits and vegetable etc.

We look
forward to promoting trade between Thailand and Egypt by eliminating
trade obstacles in order to create a sound business environment for the
private sector, whereby they conduct their business smoothly and
efficiently, in which at last, it will benefit the country.

What activities Thailand carries to support, promote trade?

The ambassador: Each year we organise an International Trade Fair in
Thailand and we invite buyers from all over the world to join, such
as Bangkok Gems and a Jewellery Fair, both in February and September, we
also have THAIFEX-World of Food Asia in May, which is the biggest food
fair in Southeast Asia.

We organise Thailand Auto Parts &
Accessories (TAPA) in April. we also have Thailand International
Logistics Fair in August. Style-Asia’s Most Stylish Fair includes
fashion products, gifts and houseware, and furniture in October. We
organise incoming missions to visit Thailand. We organise outgoing
missions from Thailand to visit several countries and conduct market
surveys and check market opportunities.

We Provide a fund for SMEs to participate in various international trade fairs to promote their products and services.

The ambassador: We have five strategies to promote Thailand’s
International Trade, which are focused on a demand-driven marketing
approach by response to the market needs, promoting outward investment
in key competitive sectors, such as the hospitality industry
(restaurants, hotels, spas), as well as manufacturing industries:
agro-based industries, automotive, and spare parts.

Our strategies
focus on promoting trade in services including retail, wholesale,
construction, tourism, logistics and transport etc, developing value
creation and innovation-driven enterprises, cluster promotion, further
developing the five original industries: automotive, electronic,
agriculture sector, food processing, and tourism, creating five new
future industries: digital, robotic and automation, biofuels and
biochemical, aviation and logistics, and the medical hub.

First secretary responsible for cultural cooperation, Juthakeart Montapaneewa 

(Photo by Asmaa Gamal)
Do you have details about official bilateral visits in 2018?

Minister counsellor for commercial affairs: The Egyptian Ministry of
Trade and Industry and Thai Ministry of Commerce have a plan to hold the
joint trade committee meeting at a ministerial level to discuss various
economic issues, in order to further expand trade and investment
cooperation between both countries.

The ambassador: In this
meeting, both countries will also adopt a five-year joint action plan in
economic activities, which is now drafted and considered by relevant
agencies from both countries. This plan will cover various economic
sectors including trade and investment, SME promotion, tourism etc and
will be a guideline for the implementation of cooperative projects in
identifying sectors from both countries.

Now both sides are
discussing to schedule an appropriate meeting time to be held in Egypt
either by the end of this year or the beginning of next year.

A
group of Egyptian General Authority for Investment and Free zones
(GAFI), led by Essam Behairy, undersecretary of the ministry of
investment and international cooperation visited Thailand on 16 till
the18 July. The embassy has coordinated with Thai customs, and the
industrial estate authority to arrange the visit.

What about cooperation in culture, tourism?

The ambassador: In 2017, Thailand welcomed just over 35 million
visitors. Over 9.8 million Chinese tourists visited Thailand last year,
about 25,000 Egyptians also visited Thailand last year. In the past five
years the numbers of Egyptian tourists to Thailand stayed at about
25,000 to 28,000 annually. About half of them visit Thailand for their
honeymoon.

Last year, the Thai government launched a new tourism
campaign called ‘open to the new shades’ to market new places and
experiences, in order to target repeat visitors.

In terms of tourism strategies, Thailand now focuses on three things, which are family, wellness, and females.

Throughout the year, the Thai embassy in Cairo organises different
activities to promote Thailand in Egypt. In 2018, we have organised the
following events, such as Muay Thai competitions over three events. On
the 16 February we organised a Muay Thai competition in Ismailia, while
on the 20 April we organised the same competition in Alexandria and on
the 29 and 30 June we organised a Muay Thai Egypt Cup 2018 at the Cairo
Stadium.

Assistant of commercial affairs counsellor, Sherif Yahia 

(Photo by Asmaa Gamal)
In terms of culture, the VieTrio musical band performed at El-Gomhouria
Theatre, Cairo on the 12 March at the Alexandria Opera house and on 13
March following another concert in Khartoum on 7 March.

Meanwhile,
the Thai cultural troupe participated in the International Drum Festival
organised by the Egyptian ministry of culture on 19 to 26 April.

Moreover, there were four Thai cuisine demonstration series organised
this year on 26 June, 17 July, 25 July, and 7 August, one of them was
held at Dusit hotel in New Cairo.

The Thai embassy also participates
in various cultural events in Cairo including at El-Sawy Cultural
Wheel, the Pharaonic village, universities such as the 6 October
University, and the British University in Egypt.

First secretary
responsible for cultural cooperation: for further events, we invite
representatives of leading sports clubs in Egypt for a Muay Thai trip in
Thailand in September, where they will have the chance to meet sport
authorities in Thailand and visit different Muay Thai establishments
including camps and stadiums. The purpose of the visit is to show them
the popularity of Muay Thai and to encourage them to introduce the
sport, which will soon be in the Olympics at their own clubs in the
future.

The embassy is also in the process of producing a Thai
photobook to introduce the Egyptian audience to the different sides of
Thai culture through the photographs by

DNE photographer Asmaa
Gamal—who is one of the newspaper’s prominent photographers. We plan to
launch the book by late September.

Additionally, all Thai people
play a role in creating a memorable tourism experience either as
welcoming hosts or as a providers of tourism products and services. In
Thailand, the tourism industry is of great economic significance when
compared to most countries in the region. It accounts for 16.6% of
Thailand’s income and is among the top tourism destinations in the world
with its unique cultural and natural disposition, its hospitality, and
its location at the centre of Southeast Asia, as per the World Economic
Forum’s ranking, according to the assessment of Travel and Tourism
Competitiveness Index (TTCI), Thailand was ranked 35 from 141 countries
assessed.

Thailand’s tourism industry contributes a big chunk to
the country’s Gross Domestic Product (GDP). However, about 10 years ago,
the industry contributed about 6.5% of Thailand’s GDP. Lately we can
estimate that it contributes between 9 and 10%.

When seeing the
number of tourists, hotel occupations, we can even expect more
sustainable portion of the GDP. In 2012, tourism revenues amounted to
staggering about $34bn while in 2017, provisional data indicate receipts
about $53.7bn which is considered an increase of 85.4% in Thai baht
compared to five years ago.

Minister counsellor for commercial affairs, Thalerngsak Vongsamsorn
We read about advantages of medical tourism in Thailand, could you please tell us more?

The ambassador: Medical tourism in Thailand is not cheap, but still by
far less expensive even including traveling and vacation expenses and
treatment in western countries. We provide prompt and pleasant service,
highly advanced medical technology, highly skilled doctors and nurses,
visa facilitation plus extended periods of stay if required. We also
have high class hospitals as 5-star hotels including foreign language
translators, prayer rooms, halal foods, and rooms designed for Muslim
families.

What is your opinion regarding Egyptian tourism?

The
ambassador: Egypt has much more tourism resources than
Thailand especially those related to ancient civilization, which people
around the world flock to see. People also visit Egypt because it
possesses places of natural beauty, such as the Red Sea and Western
desert. Unfortunately, security and the political situation in the
country, during the past seven years were not been conducive to attract
foreign tourists and thus rendered the resources underutilized.

The
Egyptian government’s recent efforts during the past few years to revive
the sector with pro-active marketing strategies, visa facilitation etc
have proved effective and thus foreign tourist arrivals have increased
significantly recently. In order for Egyptian tourism to be back on
track again, the Egyptian government must continue to maintain a secure
and safe environment in the country, simplify visa, and or in the case
of an immigration processes to make it fast and more accommodating, and
prevent any undesirable exploitation of tourists in all forms.

What main lesson learnt from Thai cave incident?
The ambassador: The first lesson learnt from the Thai cave incident is
that people around the world are naturally kind. We can work for good
together regardless of race, belief, and nationality. (Those involved in
the rescue operation comprise of various nationals and religions:
Buddhists, Muslims, and Christians). There are still some who are
willing to sacrifice themselves for others like a Thai navy seal who
died during the rescue operation. Hence, do not lose hope of seeing one
of them. If we can be united to help our society during normal times
rather than critical periods, our world would be a much better place to
live in.