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Above: Thailand and Myanmar will establish border-trade fairs soon.

Thailand and Myanmar have agreed to adopt the Mae Sot-Myawaddy model for expanding trade, investment and economic cooperation between the two countries, and to establish border-trade fairs soon.

After the seventh Thailand-Myanmar Joint Trade Commission (JTC) meeting in Nay Pyi Taw last week with her Myanmar counterpart Than Myint, Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said the neighbouring countries could promote more trade and investment through closer cooperation among government agencies and their respective private sectors.

Thailand and Myanmar aim to increase bilateral trade to between US$10 billion and $12 billion next year, from $7.74 billion (Bt272 billion) in 2015.

Above: Myanmar has agreed to adjust its rules of origin to facilitate more trade among Asean member states.

Under the Mae Sot-Myawaddy model, the two sides aim to double border trade, set up local business councils, establish a Thai-Myanmar border trade committee, develop cross-border logistics, develop retail and wholesale trading and service centres (health, tourism and education service) at the Mae Sot-Myawaddy Special Economic Zone, mobilise a labour task force, facilitate cooperation in tourism, and establishing of sister-city arrangement between Mae Sot and Myawaddy.

“Thailand and Myanmar have agreed to take the agreement into an action plan so that trade, investment and tourism between two countries can grow strongly. Thailand will also organise border-trade fairs in Mae Sot this year as a measure to support trade growth between the two countries,” Apiradi said.

Above: Thailand also organise border-trade fairs in Mae Sot as a measure to support trade growth between the two countries.

Myanmar has agreed to adjust its rules of origin to facilitate more trade among Asean member states. It has also promised to allow more Thai banks to open branches in Myanmar in the near future.

Thailand will provide an advisory service for Thai investors wanting to do business in Myanmar.

At the JTC meeting, the ministers also discussed cooperation to set up a CLMVT (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand) Business Council led by the private sector to solve trade-related problems.

According to Commerce Ministry data, Myanmar is Thailand’s eight-largest trading partner in Asean, and its 15th-largest globally.

During the past five years, bilateral trade has been worth $7.37 billion on average. In 2015, trade was valued $7.74 billion, with exports from Thailand worth $4.17 billion. Border trade accounted for 80 per cent or $6.23 billion.

Above: During the past five years, bilateral trade has been worth $7.37 billion on average.

Source: The Nation

Chalita “Namtan” Susanne was crowned Miss Universe Thailand 2016 on Saturday night at Siam Paragon, Bangkok. The 21-year-old Samut Prakan native won 1 million baht in cash and will represent Thailand at the international Miss Universe 2016 beauty pageant. She will represent the Land of Smiles at Miss Universe 2016. Chalita succeeds Aniporn Chalermuranawong; in Miss Universe 2015, she placed in the Final 10, making her Thailand’s first placement in eight years, and first Top 10 on 27 years.

Bangkok Airways has received awards for World’s Best Regional Airline 2016 and Best Regional Airline in Asia 2016 at the Skytrax Passenger’s Choice Awards, decided through the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the winners.

The awards were presented at the Skyview Hall at the Farnborough International Airshow 2016, held south of London, England, Tuesday last week (July 12).

Capt Puttipong Prasarttong-Osoth, President of Bangkok Airways, commented, “As a Thai national carrier, we are extremely delighted and proud to have received the awards which truly reflect a higher level of service and safety standard of Bangkok Airways.

“These achievements have fully manifested our continuous commitment to strive for excellence in airline services. It is not only served as a proof of passenger’s recognition, but also a great encouragement to motivate us to attain even better performance.

“On behalf of everyone at Bangkok Airways, I would like to thanks all the voters and most importantly – the dedication of our staffs to excel in a complete airline services. We promise to keep up with our services to provide the highest standard to underline our commitment to be Asia’s boutique airline”, added Capt Puttipong.

Bangkok Airways has previously been awarded “World’s Best Regional Airline 2014” and “Best Regional Airline in Asia 2014”, and has been among the top five of World’s Best Regional Airline and Best Regional Airline – Asia category.

The airline won “Asia’s Best Regional Airline” from 2004 – 2005, in 2008 and in 2009 . Bangkok Airways also won “South East Asia Best Regional Airline” from 2006 – 2007.

Skytrax World Airline Awards are coveted Quality accolades for the world airline industry. Travellers from across the globe take part each year in the world’s largest airline passenger satisfaction survey to decide the award winners. The World Airline Awards are a global benchmark of airline excellence, and widely known as the Passengers Choice awards.

Souce:phuketnews

Above: Singapore and Malaysia signed an agreement Tuesday that will bring a high-speed rail link to Kuala Lumpur by 2026.

Asia is embracing bullet trains like never before.

Singapore and Malaysia signed an agreement Tuesday that will bring a high-speed rail link to Kuala Lumpur by 2026. The long-envisioned plan, six years behind an earlier target completion date, follows a $5.5 billion project already underway in Indonesia. India last year chose Japan to build a $15 billion network, its first.

Asian nations are modernizing their transport infrastructure while China has set up the world’s biggest high-speed rail network. Japan has been running bullet trains for more than five decades now. As countries embrace the latest technology, it’s also pitting Chinese and Japanese manufacturers of super-fast trains against rivals such as Siemens AG and Bombardier Inc.

“It’s a good sign because generally investors are looking to see more inter-connectivity across Southeast Asia,” said Alan Richardson, a Hong Kong-based fund manager at Samsung Asset Management. That “will help to provide greater resilience to, or less reliance on other developed economies and also, should provide a more stable geopolitical environment with increasing inter-connectivity,” he said.

Above: The memorandum of understanding on the rail line was signed in the presence of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his counterpart Najib Razak in the Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya.

Final Negotiations

The memorandum of understanding on the rail line was signed in the presence of Singapore Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong and his counterpart Najib Razak in the Malaysian administrative capital of Putrajaya. The agreement will pave the way for final negotiations on the development and execution of the 300-kilometer (185 miles) line connecting Singapore and Kuala Lumpur. A tender for the project will be issued next year, Najib told reporters on Tuesday.

Last year, Singapore and Malaysia said they would reassess the 2020 target for the completion of the project because of the scale and complexity of the venture. Leaders of the two countries had announced in 2013 the rail link may be completed by the end of this decade, with Najib calling it a “huge game changer” that will transform the way the neighbors do business.

“The high-speed rail is a key bilateral project for both countries,” Lee’s office said in a statement Monday. “The two governments’ commitment to this project is a reflection of our strong bilateral ties and our continued efforts to deepen relations. When completed, the HSR will boost connectivity, strengthen economic ties and forge closer people-to-people linkages.”

A joint project team will call for an international tender next month for a development partner to provide technical support to both the countries, according to a statement Tuesday from Malaysia’s Land Public Transport Commission and Singapore’s Land Transport Authority. It is too early to discuss the cost of the project, Najib said.

Above: The high-speed rail line will trim the land journey between the two Southeast Asian cities to 90 minutes.

Shorter Journey

The high-speed rail line will trim the land journey between the two Southeast Asian cities to 90 minutes, from about five hours now. It will also challenge budget carriers such as AirAsia Bhd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s Tiger Airways, which fly passengers from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in about an hour. Trains will run at a top speed of more than 300 kilometers an hour, the two governments said Tuesday.

“The Singapore-Malaysia sector has among the largest airline capacity within the region,” said John Mathai, Bloomberg Intelligence’s Singapore-based transport analyst . “A high-speed rail could service some of the traffic within that segment, reducing congestion at airports.”

Asia’s appetite for high-speed rail has also pitted Chinese rail giants such as CRRC Corp., and Japanese manufacturers Hitachi Ltd. and Mitsubishi Heavy Industries Ltd. against European rivals.

Japan, which built the world’s first high-speed train more than half a century ago, is stepping up efforts to export its bullet-train technology to meet a pledge by Prime Minister Shinzo Abe to triple infrastructure exports to 30 trillion yen ($284 billion) by 2020. China, home to the world’s biggest high-speed rail network, has identified the sector as one of 10 focus industries in a blueprint for economic development.

Japan aims to sell bullet trains to the project and the government supports bids by its companies, Transport Minister Keiichi Ishii said in December. The country beat China to secure a $15 billion rail project in India.

Above:  It will challenge budget carriers such as AirAsia Bhd. and Singapore Airlines Ltd.’s Tiger Airways, which fly passengers from Singapore to Kuala Lumpur in about an hour.

China’s Push

Chinese Premier Li Keqiang is leading his nation’s overseas push by train equipment makers as part of the government’s broader strategy to turn the country into an advanced industrial nation. He has targeted emerging markets in Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia for rail-related orders, while also bidding for high-profile contracts in the developed world.

In October, a subsidiary of China Railway Group Ltd. partnered with local companies to win the rights to build a $5.5-billion high-speed railway line in Indonesia, the country’s first.

Malaysia and Singapore received close to 250 submissions after calling for a Request for Information for the project, and 98 were shortlisted, the New Straits Times reported in December.

Fourteen foreign entities among the 98 were asked to present their views, including France’s Alstom, Germany’s Siemens AG, Spain’s CAF and Talgo SA, Canada’s Bombardier, a group led by China Railway, as well as consortium from Japan and South Korea, the paper reported, without saying where it obtained the names.

Source: Bloomberg

Thailand and the United Kingdom are eying a new bilateral free trade agreement in a bid to maintain economic ties following Britain’s recent referendum vote which could see it exit the European Union.

According to Thai government data, the UK is Thailand’s second-largest trading partner among EU members and 19th globally. Thailand’s trade value with Britain was at $6.4 billion in 2015, down 6.1 percent from $6.8 billion in 2014.

Following a recent visit to Britain July 11-14, Thailand’s Deputy Commerce Minister Suvit Maisincee said the two countries had committed to stepping up talks to boost trade and investment. As part of this, he said they were considering a new trade pact to ensure that ‘Brexit’ would not affect trade and economic cooperation between the two countries.

“The FTA should help promote trade and investment growth between the two sides though the UK will exit the EU. The UK is one of our major export markets among EU countries. Thailand will try to ensure market access under the bilateral trade pact with the UK after its exit from the European Union,” Suvit said according to the Thai newspaper The Nation.

Beyond the FTA, the two countries have also agreed to set up the Thai-UK Business Leadership Council to improve cooperation between their private sectors and to facilitate trade and investment growth. The ceremony to set up the Council was witnessed by UK Rolls-Royce’s International Advisory Board and Thailand’s PTT Plc chief executive officer Tevin Vongvanich.

Thailand is set to host the first meeting of the Council in September or October this year.

Suvit said he had used his trip as an opportunity to encourage Rolls-Royce to move its production base to Thailand, where the government is promoting a range of incentives to woo businesses to boost the country’s economic prospects. Thailand’s ruling junta has identified a list of ten targeted industries being promoted as clusters, part of what is being termed a new economic model called Thailand 4.0.

Source:The Diplomat