Thai SMEs products to be promoted on official website

BANGKOK, April 3 (TNA) - The Thai government, through the Ministry of Commerce, will soon launch a new official website to promote quality goods and services produced by the country's small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) nationwide. Kulanee Isadisai, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Business Development, told journalists that the new official website, [Kongdeetourthai.com], where goods and services of more than 2,000 SMEs nationwide will be initially gathered and publicized, will be launched by the end of this month, before being increased to more than 5,000 by mid-2018. Kulanee said that the Thai SMEs goods and services, to be promoted on the new website, will be arranged in the e-directory style, in which the quality products will be categorized based on their separate types and production areas for the sake of consumers' convenience. Besides, the promoted products will also be grouped based on scores rated by consumers to show the levels of public satisfaction with the goods and services and to encourage local SMEs to further upgrade the quality of their products. According to the senior official, the quality goods and services to be gathered on the [Kongdeetourthai.com] website include community products, those promoted under the Thai government's One Tambon One Product (OTOP) Program, organic goods, geographical indication (GI) products and those from the MOC Biz Club supported by the Thai Ministry of Commerce. The senior official revealed that the newly-launched website will be later linked with other wellknown or popular e-commerce sites, like Lazada, Shopee, 11Street, Tarad.com, lnwshop and Thaitrade.com, and will be then linked with websites of established logistics firms, like Thailand Post, THeX and Blue & White logistics, and with e-payment systems offered by commercial banks, namely Kasikornbank (KBank), Siam Commercial Bank and Bank of Ayudhya, to facilitate and enhance trading efficiency of the emerging Thai SMEs. The senior official stated that other online systems will also be launched to support the emerging Thai SMEs, including a business consulting service and a networking service in which the emerging Thai SMEs can seek advisory support from established entrepreneurs in order to strenthen and sustain the local Thai grassroots economy in the long run eventually. (TNA)