Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said he asked a popular short-video platform TikTok executives to open a training centre in Thailand to help train Thais to use the platform to promote their services and products, showcasing Thailand’s soft-power.
Mr Srettha said that he had met executives of the platform at the Ritz-Carlton hotel in San Francisco at 4.30pm on Tuesday local time of San Francisco. He said the meeting gave him no surprise because there are 43 million TikTok users in Thailand. It’s very high. Everybody likes to post their video clips on TikTok as it is one of the most popular platforms in Thailand. Therefore, this was the opportunity to see how the country and the platform could help each other.
The prime minister said his government would ensure that TikTok can run its business smoothly in Thailand while the platform could help promote products of the Thai people, such as OTOP (One Product One Tambon) goods.
Mr Srettha said he told TikTok executives that Thailand have provinces other than Chiang Mai, Phuket and Bangkok and the government wanted to promote services including Thailand soft power particularly Thai food. So many Thai users posted clip videos about Thai cooking methods and recipes which can draw a lot of audiences as they are entertaining shot clips.
The premier said he asked TikTok executives to open a training centre in Thailand to help train Thais to use the platform to promote their services and products.
Mr Srettha said such a training centre would help Thais understand how to use the platform to the greatest effectiveness.
The prime minister said he promised tax incentives from the Board of Investment for TikTok and the executives expressed interest in the proposal. (TNA)
