Thailand's fashion exports set to surge within 5 years

BANGKOK, August 22 (TNA) - To be in accordance with the government's Thailand 4.0 policy, the Ministry of Industry has targeted to boost Thai exports of fashion products to reach up to about one trillion baht annually over the next five years, paving the way for the Thai Kingdom to become a fashion hub of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in the future. Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang on Monday announced the official target while presiding over the inaugural session of the International Fashion CO-Design:Ride the Power of Asia event, held at Queen Sirikit International Convention Centre in Bangkok during August 22-23. Atchaka said the target is based on statistics showing that Thai exports of fashion products, including textile and garments, gems and jewelry and leather products, now stand at about 700 billion baht annually. To pave the way for Thailand to become a fashion hub in AEC, Atchaka noted that her ministry's Department of Industrial Promotion also plans to revive the Bangkok International Fashion Week Project to make the international community to be always familiar with the word "Bangkok" in parallel with the word "fashion". According to the minister, both advance technologies and creative designs will be applied for the further development of the domestic fashion industry, as part of the Industry 4.0 Initiative under the government's Thailand 4.0 Policy, aimed to bring about and sustain national prosperity in this 21st century on top of the country's comparative advantages in biodiversity and cultural-diversity. The minister also suggested that Thai and regional fashion products be further developed through co-branding and co-designs, or cross-cultural strategies among entrepreneurs. (TNA)