On 27 April 2009, Mr. Panich Vikitsreth, Vice Minister for Foreign Affairs, together with ASEAN Secretary-General Surin Pitsuwan and OECD Secretary-General Mario Amano, held a press conference after the start of the 2nd OECD-Southeast Asia Regional Forum, at Four Seasons Hotel, Bangkok.
Vice Minister Panich said that the Forum is a collaboration of cooperation among the Foreign Ministry, Organisation for Economic and Co-operation Development (OECD), the ASEAN Secretariat and the Asian Development Bank (ADB). Hosting such an important international forum is a good opportunity for Thailand to revive the country’s confidence in the eyes of the international community and international organisations.
ASEAN Secretary-General Surin said that the ASEAN Secretariat realizes the importance of cooperating, learning, and exchanging experiences with other regions. ASEAN countries, in cooperation with dialogue partners, have established the East Asia Economic Research Institute for East Asia and ASEAN (ERIA) and the institute is still in need of cooperation and support in developing expertise from the OECD headquarter in Paris, the key research body for developed countries. For this year’s forum, enhancing competitiveness to foster integration of the economies in the region is a key theme that should help increase ASEAN and East Asia’s competitiveness and address such economic challenges as avoiding trade barriers, implementing stimulus packages, promoting East Asia as a single market.
OECD Deputy Secretary-General Amano added that Southeast Asia was a region that OECD wished to further develop strategic cooperation, as one of the key regions in the world. This motivation led to the initiative to hold the first OECD-Southeast Asia Regional Forum in Indonesia in 2007. This year’s theme of the second Forum in Bangkok is “Enhancing Competitiveness through Regional Integration”. Mr. Amano hoped that the Forum would enable both ASEAN and OECD countries to exchange, share, and compare their views and experiences on the issue.
The two-day Forum, held between 27-28 April 2009, is attended by 120 representatives from 48 countries and divided into five sessions: 1) Macroeconomic Perspectives and Challenges for Regional Integration 2) SME Financing and the Global Crisis 3) Creating an Attractive Investment Climate in Southeast Asia 4) Competition Law and Policy 5) Way Forward — Future Co-operation between ASEAN and OECD. The outcome of the Forum can be viewed at http://www.oecd.org/regional/searf2009.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th