Thailand hosts Asian Business Summit

BANGKOK, July 13 (TNA) - Thailand hosted the Asian Business Summit to discuss regional trade and investment expansion and measures to cushion impacts from the ongoing eurozone crisis. Chartsiri Sophonpanich, Chair of Thailand's Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB), on Friday welcomed participants in the 3rd Asian Business Summit, which gathered representatives of 14 private entities from 12 countries and economic zones in the region, including those of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). The business summit, in which representatives of Myanmar's Chamber of Commerce and Industry took part for first time, discussed measures to facilitate regional trade and investment and cushion impacts from the current European debt crisis, with its conclusions to be later reported to the governments of the ASEAN member countries. Speaking at the regional summit, Thai Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong reiterated that Thai politics remains stable and the Thai economy should grow by 7 per cent this year, mainly boosted by the Thai government's implementation of new infrastructure and flood prevention projects. According to the deputy premier, the Thai government is implementing long-term flood prevention projects, worth 350 billion baht, with transparency, as foreign bidders are required to be guaranteed by their respective embassies to minimize chances of corruption. The deputy prime minister vowed that the Thai government will take tough actions against corruption if found in the new mega-infrastructure projects, encouraging local anti-graft networks to report any irregularity to relevant government agencies, namely the National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) and the Public Sector Anti-Corruption Commission.(TNA)