Thailand Morning News For June 11

Thailand’s Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC): The Hard Sell Begins
For the past year no visitor to Thailand on government business has been spared the pre-sales spiel on the country’s plans to develop its eastern seaboard into a major economic corridor.
— AEC News Today (video)

DPM Wissanu says all future governments bound by 20-year national plan
The Deputy Prime Minister for Legal Affairs noted that in order for the country to successfully move forward, the next government will also have to follow the 20-year national strategy.
— News Today (video)

Govt website aims to train 10m Thai youth for digital era
WITH THE aim of training 10 million youth in Thailand over the next three years in coding and computer science skills, a government ministry has launched the “Coding Thailand” project and its CodingThailand.org website.
— The Nation

Vocational schools to adopt dual education
A dual vocational education has been introduced to the Thai education system to allow vocational students to gain real-life experience outside the classroom before they join the workforce.
— News Today (video)

NLA to convene session on June 14 on draft National Strategy
Members of the National Legislative Assembly are scheduled to convene a session next week to cast a vote on the draft National Strategy.
— News Today (video)

Labor Ministry: Clampdown on illegal migrant employment to begin July 1
The Ministry of Labor has reminded employers to complete the registration of their migrant workers before the end of this month otherwise they will face legal consequences.
— News Today (video)

Executives call for use of local currencies at borders
Business leaders from the lower Mekong River are calling for their governments to use local currencies for border region trade to facilitate transactions and reduce exchange costs.
— Bangkok Post

Food budget for prisons runs out mid-year
EACH DAY, every inmate of a Thai prison is expected to survive on Bt49 worth of food and cooking gas.
— The Nation

Govt wants offshore businesses to bring money home
The government will grant incentives to offshore companies that bring home overseas cash, according to the Ministry of Industry.
— NNT

Academy aims to accelerate corporate culture of innovation
RISE Academy, a two-year-old corporate innovation accelerator, is aiming high and expects to contribute 1 per cent to the country’s gross domestic product (GDP) by 2020.
— The Nation

Suan Dusit Poll says most people believe the next government will be better
Over 50 percent of respondents to Suan Dusit Poll believe that the post-election government will be democratic, represent the people and perform better than the previous governments.
— Thai PBS

Property developers reinvent themselves as home solutions services
With high competition in the property market, a new business model is emerging among property developers as they transform
— The Nation

Investigation into school lunch money underway
The Interior Minister has stated that schools need to accept responsibility for providing poor quality food to students after photos circulating online are said to show that students are being served poor quality lunches.
— News Today (video)

Welfare scheme budget to drop by 13%
The budget for the government’s welfare and subsidy scheme for low-income earners is expected to decline by 13% to 40 billion baht in the next fiscal year after an additional monthly living allowance paid to recipients who participated in the career training programme comes to an end.
— Bangkok Post

Loss of innocence: Teens lure teens into sex work
The recent arrest of a 17-year-old girl who procured an underage girl for an Indian tourist in Pattaya highlighted the recent crackdown on prostitution and human trafficking rings whose perpetrators and and victims are getting younger, according to police.
— Bangkok Post (annoying popups)

Thailand ‘must prepare ground for challenges ahead’
THAILAND faces many challenges ahead as it seeks to transition the country to succeed in the era of automation and digitalisation with the 4.0 initiative.
— The Nation

PM says EEC will change the face of Thailand
The Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) development project will change the face of Thailand, will generate an annual revenue of about 70 billion baht in exports, will create tens of thousands of jobs in different fields and will utilize more than 50 billion baht worth of local raw materials annually, said Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha Friday night.
— Thai PBS

Thailand becoming ‘garbage bin of world’
Waste policies encourage wrong choices; reducing, reusing and recycling should come first, say environmentalists.
— The Nation

NLA modernizes EXIM Bank Act
In the latest move to modernize Thai legislation, the National Legislative Assembly (NLA) has endorsed the amendment of a law governing the Export–Import Bank of Thailand.
— News Today (video)

Man nabbed with drug precursor haul
A Thai lorry driver has been arrested in Myanmar for transporting 15 tonnes of sodium cyanide, which can be used as a precursor for making drugs. The arrest was made under the Thai-Myanmar drug suppression cooperation, authorities said.
— Bangkok Post (annoying popups)

SEC regulates digital currency market
The Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) has issued measures to regulate the digital currency market to ensure security and protect against fraud and money laundering.
— News Today (video)

Thai investors plan to expand investment projects in Vietnam
Vietnam’s economy has outstandingly grown, thanks to its economic measures while Thai investors plan to expand their investment in the Indochinese state.
— NNT

Visa predicts payment avenue boom by 2022
The rise of new forms of Internet of Things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI), empowered by big data analytics, will lead to new methods of payment, with Visa Inc predicting 30 billion ways to pay and 400 million ways to be paid by 2022.
— Bangkok Post

‘Major infrastructure boost needed’ to cope with burgeoning tourism
THAILAND EXPECTS the number of international tourists to hit 60 million in 2030, forcing the country to expand its investment in developing the infrastructure needed to support them, up from an anticipated 38 million this year, Tourism and Sports Ministry permanent secretary Pongpanu Svetarundra said in an interview with The Nation.
— The Nation

Government to double sales of Thai products via its online marketplace
The government says it will boost selling of Thai products through its official e-commerce channel, Thaitrade.com, to 10 billion baht next year from 5 billion this year.
— Thai PBS

PM confirms no rice planting ban in place
The Prime Minister has confirmed that no farmer has been forbidden from growing rice, while the government aims to align supply with market demands to curb oversupply and price depreciation.
— NNT

What’s behind the “purging” of the Thai sangha?
Khemthong Tonsakulrungruang’s analysis in “Purging the Thai Sangha”, interesting as it is, misses an important point in the “purging” of senior Bangkok monks.
— New Mandala

Ministry of Defense to utilize local rubber to alleviate oversupply
The Ministry of Defense will use rubber to improve roads and ponds around the country to help alleviate the rubber oversupply due to lower global demand and the use of cheaper synthetic rubber.
— News Today (video)

SRT PUSHES DOUBLE-TRACK RAIL PROPOSALS
The State Railways of Thailand (SRT) is expected in the next few weeks to table before the Cabinet a plan to build the Denchai-Chiang Rai-Chiang Kong double-track rail line worth Bt76 billion, according to SRT acting director Worawut Mala.
— The Nation

Govt promotes overseas investment
The Ministry of Industry sets to offer more tax incentives for Thai firms investing in foreign countries.
— NNT

MFA: Stricter regulations on fishing boats being mulled
The government is considering making the regulations for fishing boats stricter to contain unregistered and law-violating vessels in quick manner.
— NewsToday (video)

Phuket incinerates IP violating goods
Phuket customs officers have incinerated over 3,000 items violating intellectual property with a combined value of close to 2 million baht.
— News Today (video)

South Korean investors eye Asean tourism industry
SOUTH KOREAN investors are interested in expanding their investment in the tourism industry throughout the Asean bloc due to strong interest of international tourists in the region.
— The Nation

Deputy national police chief on inspection of suspected garbage damp site
A deputy national police chief has led a raid at a garbage dump site suspected of being used to store hazardous electronic waste.
— NNT

Get in LINE: Theme park devoted to messaging app opens in Bangkok
It already boasts the digital loyalty of more than 40 million Thais, but now Asia’s ubiquitous social-media messaging app Line is breaking into the real world with a Bangkok theme park.
— Channel NewsAsia

All Clear: Maya Bay ‘zero tolerance’ protection kicks into force with immediate effects
The “zero tolerance” environmental protection measures for world-renowned Maya Bay, with no access for any persons other than national park officers until Oct 1, came into force last Friday.
— The Phuket News

Feature photo Lorenzoclick

Find our previous morning news feature photos in the AEC News Today Morning News Feature Photos gallery where you will find a pictorial display of daily life throughout the Asean Economic Community (AEC).

Thailand morning news by AEC News Today is your one stop source for Thailand news on matters of governance and policies affecting Asean business communities. It is published M-F by AEC News Today: Governance, not government; policies not politics.

Thailand Morning News For June 11 added by John Le Fevre on June 11, 2018
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John Le Fevre

Thailand editor at AEC News Today

John is an Australian national with more than 40 years experience as a journalist, photographer, videographer, and copy editor.

He has spent extensive periods of time working in Africa and throughout Southeast Asia, with stints in the Middle East, the USA, and England.

He has covered major world events including Operation Desert Shield/ Storm, the 1991 pillage in Zaire, the 1994 Rwanda genocide, the 1999 East Timor independence unrest, the 2004 Asian tsunami, and the 2009, 2010, and 2014 Bangkok political protests.

In 1995 he was a Walkley Award finalist, the highest awards in Australian journalism, for his coverage of the 1995 Zaire (now Democratic Republic of Congo) Ebola outbreak.

Prior to AEC News Today he was the deputy editor and Thailand and Greater Mekong Sub-region editor for The Establishment Post, predecessor of Asean Today.

In the mid-80s and early 90s he owned JLF Promotions, the largest above and below the line marketing and PR firm servicing the high-technology industry in Australia. It was sold in 1995.