Int'l visitors welcome to OTOP City 2015

NONTHABURI, THAILAND, December 24 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Interior invites international visitors to the OTOP City 2015, OTOP Next V.2.0 event, set to be held in Muang Thong Thani on the outskirts of Bangkok from December 23-30, aimed to help boost revenues of grassroots producers of community-based products and to stimulate the national economy. Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha on Thursday afternoon presided over a ceremony to inaugurate the one-week event, in which more than 80,000 items of locally-produced goods under the government-supported One Tambon, One Product (OTOP) Scheme are on display and sold to international visitors. Interior Minister General Anupong Paojinda told a press conference on December 23 that the prime minister has a policy to stimulate domestic market through the OTOP 2015 event amid a global economic slowdown. The interior minister said he expected that the one-week OTOP 2015 event should attract about 600,000 international visitors. Meanwhile, Apichart Todilokvej, Director-General of the ministry's Community Development Department, assured that every penny from the sale of the OTOP items on display at the one-week event will go directly to the grassroots producers without any middlemen. The OTOP City 2015, OTOP Next V.2.0 event is held at the Challenger Hall, IMPACT Trade and Exhibition Centre in Muang Thong Thani until next Wednesday, from 10am-9pm. (TNA)