Experts:WEF on East Asia will boost Thailand's image

BANGKOK, May 29 (TNA) - Economic experts say they believe that the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia 2012 Thailand will host from May 31-June 1 will promote the country's positive image, especially its capacity and potential as a regional hub. Thanawat Polvichai, Director of the University of the Thai Chamber of Commerce's Economic and Business Forecasting Centre, noted that the 21st WEF on East Asia in Bangkok would gather political and economic leaders from several nations in the region and would, thus, draw the attention of the international community. Thanawat assessed that the two-day WEF on East Asia will also be a good opportunity for Thailand to restore confidence and to promote the country's image internationally. According to the senior Thai economist, the international community will wait and see what Myanmar opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi will speak of the opening of Myanmar and how cooperation among member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian nations (ASEAN) will develop, as global investors are looking at the 10-member ASEAN bloc, in which Thailand has the potential to be a trade and investment centre and the forthcoming forum should also show developments in regional cooperation and relations. Kanit Saengsupan, Director of Thailand's Fiscal Policy Research Institute, who is invited to address the WEF on East Asia 2012, revealed that he would present Thailand’s quick recovery after a flooding crisis late last year, as well as ASEAN's educational and technological development, which has boosted the economy of the entire region, pointing out that education is a key to the development of East Asia into a centre of the world economy and Thailand into an ASEAN hub. Kanit suggested that as the democratization in Myanmar has become a focus of the international community, Thailand need to prepare itself for multifaceted and long-term liberalization, which can happen with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), China, Japan and South Korea, making Thailand even become more interesting in this region. (TNA)