Returning to the resolution of the Cabinet on January 26, 2021, it approved a budget of 3,283.10 million baht to be spent to host the meeting of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC 2022 Thailand) This large budget is necessary. As there are related meetings throughout the year from December 2021 to November 2022, there are 15 meetings, consisting of 5 senior officials’ meetings, 9 ministerial meetings and 1 executive meeting, and each time it is necessary for the staff to take care of the system security and many services
What is APEC?
Why the government attaches great importance to the APEC meeting Because it is a forum for economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific region. that Thailand was co-founded in 1989 and currently has 21 member economies: Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru , Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam, with a total population of over 2.9 billion, or 38% of the world population. And it has a combined gross product (GDP) of over $ 53 trillion, or about 1,700 trillion baht or 62%, called two-thirds of world GDP, and the total trade value is nearly half of world trade.
In this regard, the “APEC 2022” meeting, the main theme is Open Connect Balance or “open to relations connected to balance”, which recently saw the leaders of the economic zones accept participation, consisting of
- Anthony Albanese Prime Minister of Australia
- His Majesty Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah Sultan of Brunei
- Justin Trudeau Prime Minister of Canada
- Gabriel Boric, President of Chile
- Chinese President Xi Jinping
- John Lee, chief executive of Hong Kong
- Joko Widodo, president of Indonesia
- Fumio Kishida, Prime Minister of Japan
- Yun Seok-yeol, president of South Korea
- Izmail Saabri Yakkob, Prime Minister of Malaysia
- Tatiana Glowtier, Minister of Economy
- Jacinda Ardern, Prime Minister of New Zealand
- James Marape, Prime Minister of Papua New Guinea
- Pedro Castillo, President of Peru
- Bon Bon Marcos, President of the Philippines
- Vladimir Putin, president of Russia
- Lee Hsien Loong Prime Minister of Singapore
- Morris Chang, Special Envoy to the President of Taiwan
- Kamala Harris, vice president of the United States
- Nguyen Xuan Phuc, president of Vietnam
Additionally, special guests attending the meeting included 1. Cambodian Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen, 2. French President Emmanuel Macron, and 3. Prince Muhammad bin Salman, Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia.
What does the theme of the APEC 2022 meeting mean?
with particular attention to trade and investment including promoting the country in the international eye after the era of Covid-19 has lightened.Therefore, Thailand has set the main theme of the meeting, Open. Connect. Balance., Which has the following meanings.
- Open is the opening of the country which implies the opening of the country after the outbreak of Covid-19.
- Connect. Is a link to travel after opening the country.
- Balance It means creating balance in all sectors in terms of economy, society and the environment.
For the important issues that Thailand aims at this meeting are:
- Facilitate trade and investment in both the digital economy and promote access to sources of finance for Small and Medium Enterprises or MSMEs (Micro, Small and Medium Enterprises)
- Restoration of connectivity, including the promotion of health tourism and green tourism
- Promote sustainable and inclusive growth, including promoting the bioeconomy. circular economy and green economy (Bio-Circular-Green) or BCG Economic model Responsible business operations focusing on small entrepreneurs and promoting the role of women and potential people
How important is APEC for Thailand?
That said, when I saw the list of entrants, I had to admit it was one of the great arenas. Even if the United States of America only sends the vice president Ma is not new. Because at the 2013 meeting under President Barack Obama and in 2018 under President Donald Trump, they didn’t attend. But not that the US will ignore APEC because it was the first country to hold an APEC summit in 1993 and in 2023 the US itself will host the APEC summit. Which is considered the first member nation to host three times, demonstrating the importance of this meeting. But the reason this time the US President “Joe Biden”. By stating the need to attend his niece’s wedding, he may actually not want to meet both Xi Jinping and Vladimir Putin, who are still drunk.
“APEC” is very important for Thailand. Because in 2021 the trade between Thailand and APEC is worth 12.2 trillion baht or 385 billion dollars, equal to 71.52% of the total trade of Thailand. Thailand exports to APEC worth 6.1 trillion baht, or $ 195 billion, and imports from APEC worth 6 trillion baht, or $ 190 billion, and during the nine months of 2022 (January-September) Trade between Thailand and APEC was valued at 10.7 trillion baht, or $ 314 billion, an increase of 10.65%, with Thailand exporting to APEC to the value of 5.2 trillion baht or 155 billion baht and imports 5.4 trillion baht or 158 billion APEC dollars.
Thai trade data must be called showing the importance of APEC. Since Thailand does not have a free trade area (FTA) with APEC members such as the United States, Canada, Russia and Mexico, the APEC channel is a good way to close the loophole.
Although the benefits of the 2022 APAC meeting are yet to await the long-term fruits. from the construction of the broadest economic cooperation framework in the world But at the foreground there is also the advantage of hosting a meeting that takes place without waiting for a summit of leaders: during the year 21 working groups of APEC economies meet at all the levels, for a total of over 14 clusters, ranging from officials to officials. minister and leader of the country Each set is not less than 10 people If he is a leader, one hundred people will join. including the media army traveling to Thailand where only the media are open for recording up to 2,000 people
The APEC 2022 arena is a platform that the whole world is watching. And most importantly, this is another opportunity Thailand hopes to be able to leverage this investment as a host. useful
