Thailand Food Valley Project To Seize Opportunities In AEC

BANGKOK, April 26 (TNA) - Thailand is applying the Food Valley model of the Netherlands to process food and increase values in the local food industry, as part of the country's preparation for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by 2015. Industry Minister M.R. Pongsvas Svasti said at a seminar on Thailand Food Valley SMEs Roadmap toward the AEC held in Bangkok on Wednesday that the Thai government has allocated 40 million baht annually this year and next year to implement the Thailand Food Valley Project. Under the project, the government will select project sites during the first four years of its implementation, including Thailand's northern Chiang Mai province and northeastern Nakhon Ratchasima province, before expanding its implementation in the country's southern and central regions. Pongsvas revealed that the Thai government is also creating a network of food industrialists, boost their produce, develop internationally-recognized production standards and a database with relevant operators and conduct research projects with educational institutions. According to the Thai industry minister, the food industry can add values to farm products and Thailand is an important food production base of the world community, which is now being concerned over food security amid the rising world population and global demand for more food products, as climate change has affected global food production. Thailand's total export value of food and farm products amounted to 580 billion baht last year and the figure should reach one trillion baht this year. The Thai food industry has also created some 870,000 jobs. The Thai industry minister also said that there are 600 million people in Southeast Asia and their combined gross domestic product (GDP) has amounted to one trillion US dollars; so, the formation of the AEC will liberalize movements of products, services, funds and labor in the region, suggesting local small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to prepare themselves for the regional economic integration. The Thai minister referred as well to the Association of Southeast Asian ations (ASEAN) plus 6 grouping, which will form a combined population of three billion with its overall GDP to account for a quarter of the world’s GDP, noting that he hopes the Thailand Food Valley Project will help promote the Thai food products in the region. (TNA)