BANGKOK, 27 July 2012 – The Transport Ministry has pointed out key logistics elements, which Thailand are to timely recognize in order to prompt itself towards the emergence of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC).
Deputy Transport Minister Chadchart Sittipunt said on Thursday that there are 3 key elements in linking the logistics system within ASEAN, including the regulations, which govern all entrepreneurs’ ways of doing cross-border business. In this area, Thailand is pushing through Parliament a number of legislations that are expected to be put in place within 3 years.
The second element is the liberalization of the logistics service for regional business operators within 2015, under which foreign entities will be allowed to hold up to 70 percent of shares in local companies. Mr. Chadchart noted that Thai entrepreneurs are to quickly improve themselves to compete more efficiently once AEC is up and running.
The Deputy Transport Minister said that the last key element of ASEAN logistics is the basic infrastructure, which is to help business operators seriously control costs, otherwise investors may shift their money to neighboring countries and switch to more rail transports after the realization of AEC.
According to Mr. Chadchart, road transports currently represent 84 percent while rail accounts only for 2 percent of the total cargo transport in Thailand.
He went on to say that the Thai Transport Ministry will be studying which routes in neighboring countries will become important for transportation in the future, in order to develop local transport routes to equip the country for a more liberalized region.
