Thailand prepares for AEC in various aspects

BANGKOK, August 8 (TNA) - Thailand is preparing for the formation of a single economic community of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) over the next three years in various aspects. In a latest development, civil defence Volunteers in Thailand's southern Songkhla province participated in a training programme Wednesday to promote Hat Yai, the province's largest district and wellknown as the southern Thai business hub, as a safe and impressive destination for international tourists once the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is established by 2015. Uthit Choochuay, chief of the Provincial Administrative Organization of Songkhla, who inaugurated the training program, said that the programme is aimed at providing the civil defence volunteers with a useful guidance on facilitating increasing foreign tourists, particularly those from other ASEAN member countries, after the AECis formed. Uthit revealed that after the training, the volunteers will serve international tourists in Hai Yai's downtown areas. Meanwhile, Thai jewelry firms, like several others, have eyed to expand their business into neighbouring ASEAN countries in the lead up to the regional integration. For the Thai financial sector, according to chief of the Fiscal and Financial Policy Bureau under the Thai Ministry of Finance's Fiscal Policy Office, Ketsuda Supradit, it has now been better-prepared for the AEC than the overall Thai industrial sector, particularly securities and health insurance firms. Ketsuda suggested, however, that Thai financial institutes adjust their business strategies and the Bank of Thailand relax its regulations on capital outflows to facilitate Thai business operators who want to expand their trade and investment into other markets in the region. (TNA)