Thailand 4.0 Reinvigorates ASEAN and Connects Thailand to the Global Community

摘要

As it takes on the mantle of chair of the ASEAN in 2019, the Kingdom of Thailand has maintained an extremely favourable business environment. The IMD World Competitiveness Centre (a Swiss think tank) ranks Thailand at 25th position in its 2019 index (consisting of 63 countries) - only Singapore and Malaysia are placed ahead of it within the ASEAN. Thailand is also among the pioneering countries in the ASEAN to have a dedicated economic plan for the adoption of fourth-generation technology. Moreover, the government of Thailand has operated favourable policy towards foreign investors - providing them with incentives to ramp up the country's industrial base. As a result, the Economist Intelligence Unit estimates that the stock of FDI stood at the equivalent of 50% of GDP at end-2018-one of the highest levels in ASEAN. All this puts the kingdom in an excellent position to foster inclusive technology-driven development across the entire country.