BANGKOK, 24 August 2012 – The Industry Minister has expressed concerns over the readiness of the country’s logistics sector before the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015.
Industry Minister M.R. Phongsawat Svastiwat said during the seminar “AEC and SMEs Challenges: Next steps (Phase 3) that the Industry Ministry has been worried about the logistics industry because competition will be fiercer once the AEC is active.
M.R. Phongsawat stated that the Thai logistics operators still lack concrete service standards and he would like them to quickly improve the speed of their operations for this cause.
Moreover, he urged related businesses to focus on cost management along with the development of their organizations, employee effectiveness and customer relations as well as to penetrate new markets in the region.
The Industry Minister also said that other service industries appear strong enough to compete under the AEC. Among these industries is the software service sector, which has registered a 50-percent growth in 2011 and is aiming for a minimum growth rate of 20 percent or 30 billion baht in monetary value in 2012.
He is confident that, if improved, the logistics industry will add as much as 400 billion baht in revenue for the country, or about 3 percent of the Thai GDP.
