Products of Thai SMEs to be upgraded to int'l standards

BANGKOK, January 30 (TNA) - The Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) continues to upgrade products of Thai SMEs to meet international standards with higher competitiveness. OSMEP Deputy Director-General Wimonkan Kosumas on Tuesday told journalists of the policy, which is under her office's 4th SMEs promotion plan (2017-2021) with a focus on those in six sectors, including digital; creativity and innovations; high-value added services; engineering and machinery and mechanical electronics and robotic development; food and biological farm and industrial products; and healthcare. Wimonkan said under the five-year plan, OSMEP is working together with other relevant agencies in an integrated aspect to further upgrade the Thai SMEs' products to not only meet international standards, but also boost their competitiveness on the world market. Besides, OSMEP is exploring more trade opportunities for Thai SMEs so that they can expand their trade and investment networks with business firms in such high potential markets as China, Japan, Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong and India, as well as Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar and Vietnam, known as the CLMV group. Meanwhile, the Department of Industrial Promotion, under the Thai Ministry of Industry, is also implementing over 30 projects on further upgrading Thai SMEs, with its earmarked budget of about 800 million baht, including its Industry Transformation Center (ITC). Other projects include the 20-billion baht SMEs development fund, the SMEs 4.0 era with an emphasis on upgrading community-based products. Private firms, including CP All Public Company Limited (CP All), are, in the meantime, cooperating with government agencies as well to support the Thai SMEs, with CP All alone providing its shelves at 7-Eleven 24-hour convenient stores to over 2,000 local SMEs to sell their over 22,000 items of products totally. (TNA)