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Keynote Address by
H.E. Mr. Abhisit Vejjajiva, Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Thailand,
at the ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum 2009,
"Thailand's Path to Economic Dynamism and Social Stability",
21 October 2009, Plaza Athenee Hotel, Bangkok
Excellencies, Distinguished Guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,First of all, let me say what a great pleasure it is for me to be here this evening at the ASEAN 100 Leadership Forum 2009. And that pleasure is all the greater because I have been to this forum three times. Every time, I say to the forum convener, Dato Timothy Ong, that he should bring the forum to Thailand. He agreed, under one condition - that I had to be Prime Minister. I know that these last ten months there must have been times when he wondered whether I would still keep that part of the deal. So I'm pleased not just to be here and to welcome the region's political and business leaders, but delighted that the main theme of this forum, "ASEAN Integration in the Face of Global Crisis: Challenges and Opportunities,' means that this forum remains a vibrant one for those of us who really and truly care about the region's future.
Of course tomorrow, Thailand will welcome to Cha-am Hua Hin the Heads of States and Governments from ASEAN and Dialogue Partner countries for the 15th ASEAN and Related Summits. We have played an active role in moving forward ASEAN integration, which is, in turn, significantly contributing to the strengthening of the economic dynamism of its Member States. And I know that I've been asked to talk about Thailand's path to economic dynamism and social stability. But let me at least begin with ASEAN because I think my position, and the position of those of us who are here, has always been that the peace and prosperity of our countries are very much intertwined with the peace and prosperity of the region as a whole, which makes ASEAN integration and ASEAN cooperation absolutely crucial for the Member States and, of course, most significantly, for our peoples, especially our children and grandchildren.
And I know that in the past events in this forum you have to tackle the debate on ASEAN. Many of us continue to pin hopes on ASEAN in providing a framework by which all our countries can move forward together. But every year, there's quite a strong dose of skepticism and doubts, about whether we have the political will to carry out what is necessary to attain that hope and the aspirations. This year, I will no longer be taking part in the debate. I know one of my members of parliament will be doing so and I have made sure that he's on the right side of the debate - reminding him now that he's both the party-list in Government and also chairing ASEAN. But what I would say is this. The last ten months for ASEAN have seen substantial progress. We will rise to the challenge of having to implement a new Charter - a document that clearly spells out the ambitions of the grouping much, much more than all the statements that have been put out in the past. And to make sure that the first steps that we take to implement that Charter go according to plan, we all have to work very, very hard. And it's credit to all the Leaders in the region that a number of steps have been taken, and that by the year's end we will have set up a number of mechanisms and bodies that will put the plan to realise the vision of a community on strong foundations. The three pillars - political-security cooperation, economic community, socio-cultural cooperation - now have a council each to make sure that the programme of integration moves forward. Moreover, some bodies such as the Intergovernmental Human Rights Commission, a body that was always going to be controversial. On the one hand, it will be perceived to be perhaps far too aggressive given the diversity in the region. And from another point of view, never going to fulfill the expectations or the demands of those countries that are interested on the matter. But the foreign ministers back in July have already agreed on the terms of reference and we will be launching such a body in two days' time.
Along with a number of other works in progress that will strengthen the community blueprint and move us well on the way towards realising the vision of a community in six years' time.
But perhaps that's not a significant as the fact that we have had to make sure that ASEAN integration must proceed despite the global economic crisis. As you know, even under normal circumstances, in normal times, we have found it always tough to advance the integration in general. But this year, surely, people would have every right to doubt that we would make no progress because the global economic crisis just weighed down on us. But on the contrary, the last ten months of this year see also that ASEAN has been very quick and firm in responding to the challenges posed by the crisis without forgetting the longer-term goals. We managed to multilateralise the Chiang Mai Initiative - a reserve pooling arrangement now, no longer a bilateral swap arrangement; increase the size of that pool with the participation of our Plus Three Dialogue Partners - Japan, Korea and China; and I think now we can set an example of how a regional grouping might want to take care of itself when posed by the problems of financial instability or crisis.
We also said no to protectionism in our statement back in February. But we did better than just words. We carried on with the free trade agenda by signing more agreements with our Dialogue Partners - free trade agreement, economic partnership agreement, investment agreement, with countries ranging from Japan to China to India. These were also done at a time when people usually were just pleased with not adding any protectionist measures on the domestic agenda. And also this year ASEAN had a voice at a key forum of international economic policy coordination, the G-20, both at London and Pittsburgh. And I can also say that we are pleased that our voice was heard in London where the G-20 clearly switched their attention from focusing on financial problems in the banking sector to the need to sustain trade and growth in emerging and developing economies as well. And more recently, in Pittsburgh, also to listen to our perspective on how the new global financial architecture should be shaped. So I am proud to say the ASEAN integration agenda continues to move forward during these very difficult times. I don't have any illusion that from this year on up until 2015 when we say we'll have a single market, a single production base, a community that's well integrated, a lot more work remains to be done.
But if we can sustain the momentum, if we can continue on the path that we have already begun this year, I believe that all the goals and aspirations that we have set out can be attained. And we are also focusing on the issues of action, of connectivity, and, most significantly, of making sure that ASEAN truly belongs to ASEAN peoples. The other initiative that we took, that I will mention, is that this year, for the first time, Leaders actually get to sit down face-to-face with representatives from parliamentarians, youth and also civil society. And so, as Chair of ASEAN, I hope that when we hand over to Viet Nam, all this work will be continued and that all of you will continue to provide support and pressure to make sure that the political leaders truly respond to the challenges which really make us feel all along over the four or five years of this forum being held that we have to move that bit faster than we usually do. Now for Thailand, just as I said ASEAN faced the global challenge over this last year, of course Thailand is no exception. Despite strong health in the financial sector, without being directly affected by the financial crisis as such, the fact that Thailand is an economy well-integrated into the world economy means that the drop in export and tourism around 15-20 per cent in the first half of this year has had a big impact on the Thai economy and the Thai people. And for us, the way we responded and made sure that we continue on that path to economic dynamism is that we make sure that the broad approach that Thailand's always taken, which is that we are an open economy, outward-oriented and also relying heavily on the dynamism of private sector entrepreneurship. We made sure that that continues. Despite calls for, perhaps, saying that perhaps we need to take a different approach because we were too open. We felt that the future continues to be in the direction of closer integration. And you have to learn to live with the risks that come with them. And then, all the way we approach this is during these unusual times while not turning back on that approach, we have to focus on what governments had to do. And the first thing we needed to do as the crisis took shape and began to hit our people is to make sure that we protect the least fortunate, the most vulnerable, the poorest, which is why our first stimulus package, which began to be implemented in March, was unconventional in many ways. We didn't talk about mega-projects. We didn't talk about construction projects. We talked about making sure that the poorest, the low income and the vulnerable had their purchasing power sustained. Not only was it the right thing to do, because they are the people we should to help first. It was also the most efficient way of stimulating the economy because with these kinds of programmes the money gets to the pockets of the people quickest. And I think we were vindicated by the figures that show that since April, so one month after the package was implemented, month-on-month figures have been on the way up. But we know it's not enough. We are now implementing the second stimulus package, which is what we call "Thailand: Investing From Strength to Strength' - a massive undertaking of infrastructure investment. Again, the role of the Government here is to increase the basic competitiveness of the economy in the hope that we will actually crowd in rather than crowd out private investment with this massive undertaking. I won't go into detail about the package, but it is a massive package in that the value is about five per cent of GDP for three successive years. And the range of investment covers issues from water resources, to make sure that our agricultural sector reaches its full potential; that we continue to be a major food exporter; and become a significant player in alternative fuel production, using our agricultural resources. But also that our agricultural sector gains higher productivity and becomes more efficient, and hence giving higher returns to our farmers, who account for almost half of our population. The issue of logistics - roads, rails, also a massive investment programme taking place with the aim of reducing logistics cost, which have always been high in Thailand, around 19 per cent, to something closer to 15 per cent within three years' time. And we also invest in our schools, in our health sector, to make sure that our people get better services at the grassroots level. And we also have a number of programmes for the creative economy and our tourism sector, to make sure also that our service sector expands and becomes a more significant part of our national income. So the aim here is not just to create 1.5 to 2 million jobs while this programme is implemented, but clearly to make sure that Thailand is ready for the post-crisis global economy, ready to benefit and take advantage of the global recovery and making sure that we remain competitive not just in the region, but also at the global level. At the same time, we have a number of measures that will help the private sector get through these hard times. We have a number of programmes that provide incentives for them not to lay off people, provide them with liquidity assistance as far as liquidity is concerned, making sure that credit achieves its flow, and also improving on some of the issues that have been obstacles to private business investment, particularly looking at the bureaucratic obstacles and a number of reforms are on the cards. By the end of the year, we will actually open a "One-Start-One-Stop' service post for investors so that it will be a single point of contact and will facilitate all businesses in their contacts with the public sector. And fresh incentives will also be provided in an attempt also to attract regional operating headquarters of a number of companies to Thailand.
That's how we are coping with the crisis with a view to making sure that our dynamism continues as far as the Thai economy is concerned.
As for the politics, all I can say is that it's certainly no less a challenge for us. And many of you know the last two or three years, previous to this one, we have seen a number of incidents that have made people worry, anxious about whether Thailand perhaps has lost her way. For the Thai people known for our smiles, being hospitable and being gentle have changed our ways. And I was determined that we have to bring back stability. Except for a few days in April when things got out of hand, partly I admit because our misjudgment that the "Red-shirts' or opposition would not go so far as to disrupt an international meeting, which they did. But except for those days, we have been able to bring more calm and stability. I certainly cannot say that there are no longer differences or tensions or even conflicts. They remain. But that's only natural for any society, especially a democratic society. But what we're determined to do is to prove that a government that comes through the parliamentary process, sticks to democratic principles, makes sure that there is transparency, accountability and respects the rights of all groups will eventually bring the whole society to appreciate the value of the rule of law, the peaceful conduct of political activities, and to learn to respect other people's rights.
Yes, the work ahead of me is still hard. Reconciliation needs to be achieved through political solutions such as constitutional amendments and also making sure that no new conflicts arise, and that in the end everything can be resolved through the parliamentary process. But I think the example that my Government set will go a long way towards creating a kind of political culture that is absolutely necessary to sustain any vibrant democracy and to take it to a new stage of maturity.
So I am pleased to say that the path to economic dynamism and political and social stability is something that I am sure we have definitely embarked upon. It is not going to be a smooth ride, and I never expected it to be so. It has been a very long ten months. But I am confident that the country, especially the people, can rise up to the challenge. I am pleased and proud to say that not only have we been able to cope with these challenges, but will also do our best to make sure that we play our full part as Chair of ASEAN and a contributor to the region's peace and prosperity.
I would end by saying that all this had been achieved and all future achievements could not possibly be attained solely by the Government. We need the cooperation of the private sector, civil society, members of the academia as well as the general public. And it is my firm belief that our actively seeking such cooperation from all walks of society will be rewarded with a more stable path towards peace and prosperity in Thailand, and I would say that the same thing is needed for the region as a whole. I look forward to all your contributions over the next few days at this forum. I hope that we will continue to provide the momentum and the pressure that will move this region onto greater things.Thank you very much.