On Jan 31, there was a collaboration between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the Foreign Correspondents' Club of Thailand (FCCT) to co-host a panel discussion on the topic of "Driving Post-Covid Economic Recovery as Apec Host in 2022". The lively discussion was deftly directed by Panu Wongcha-um, who was behind the scenes during Thailand's last hosting of Apec in 2003.
Apec's visions and goals, also known as the Bogor Goals, were announced in 1994 after Apec Leaders met in Indonesia's town of Bogor. The Bogor Goals focused on trade and investment, moves to advance the Free Trade Area of the Asia Pacific (FTAAP) agenda, the Putrajaya Vision 2040, and the Aotearoa Plan of Action.
Apec had grown from a forum that focused on trade and investment, to one that include adaptations toward new emerging issues for inclusiveness and sustainability. Hot issues, such as climate change and digitalisation, had become part of the Apec discourse of our time.
Thailand, as Apec host economy this year, was seeking to enhance this conversation to achieve a consolidated strategy for post-Covid economic recovery and inclusive and sustainable growth.
In fact, Thailand is going to leverage its economic diplomacy to address economic fragmentation and empower all stakeholders to actively drive the region's economic rebound.
Under Thailand's host year theme of "Open. Connect. Balance," Thailand will highlight a Bio-Circular-Green (BCG) narrative in Apec's discourse to promote issues such as creating value from renewable resources, redesigning our economy so waste from one industry becomes material for another and making our way of life and businesses more environmentally and economically sound.
Based firmly on Apec's unwavering support for rules-based multilateralism, Chanunya Bandhukul, Executive Director, Bureau of America, Pacific Affairs and International Organisations, Ministry of Commerce, told a panel that the conversation on FTAAP would need to be refreshed to open up new perspectives on how FTAAP would fit into and could advance Apec economies beyond Covid.
She placed a special emphasis on empowering MSMEs by promoting e-commerce and further integrating them into the global supply chain. Thailand is encouraging MSMEs to adapt their businesses to the BCG model and will host a symposium on this topic in May.
Apec economies need to get the ball rolling, and in a big way.
Without skipping a beat, Kasemsit Pathomsak, a member of the Apec Business Advisory Council (Abac), told the audience that Thai members of Abac also saw BCG as the way forward to balance economic development with environmental conservation.
Under Abac's theme for Apec 2022 -- "Embrace. Engage. Enable" -- Abac members were ready to embrace eco-friendly concepts like BCG and net-zero development, to engage key industries and local communities and enable them to upgrade themselves by improving local know-how and local products.
Achiraya Thamparipattra, CEO and co-founder of Hivesters, an MSME, shared her experience, and survival keys in adapting to the Covid situation was market diversification and the search for new pathways.
She has high expectations for Apec 2022 to revive international connectivity and safe international travel. In fact, she is counting on it while consolidating lessons learned to strengthen her business for the future.
One of the most important lessons is that, after suffering for two years during a pandemic, people are looking for a deeper connection -- for the tourism industry, so that means finding a way for them to "connect with the destination, culture and local people".
The questions posed in the last session of the event brought together all of these perspectives to reflect on a wide range of scenarios.
This will be where the conversation deepens, into one that will ultimately help to sharpen the tools, approaches and directions taken this year.
Ranging from whether the Omicron and future Covid variants had the capacity to scuttle progress in advancing Apec's objectives, to whether United States-China tensions would cast a shadow over progress, to whether and how sectors planned to address Thailand's over-reliance on tourism, to how the youth -- a dynamic stakeholder -- would be engaged in all of these conversations. The readiness of the media to engage was impressive, and we are only at the starting line.
As member economies work their way towards the Apec Economic Leaders' Week in November, we must engage with the media, to communicate and discuss in greater depth of issues of importance to Apec in 2022.
In fact, we plan to host a number of "Apec Media Focus Groups" to allow us to sink our teeth into the specifics of advancing priorities like "Safe passage", start-ups, a BCG roadmap and relevant technology and innovation, sustainability and women and youth.
There is much to cover during one host year of this important forum and we look forward to seeing every stakeholder along the way.
Tanee Sangrat is spokesman for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
