The Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand hosted a seminar on “Opportunities in Doing Business in Latin America and the Caribbean” to promote greater confidence in doing business for Thai businesses and to provide first-hand information and insights from the 9 Ambassadors of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean regarding economic cooperation and trade, investment, and tourism opportunities. The latest version of Discover Latin America (DLA) mobile application was launched with its first volume of DLA MAGAZINE as a new application feature.

On 31 March 2021, Mrs. Pornpimol Kanchanalak, Advisor to the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, delivered her opening remarks at a seminar on “Opportunities in Doing Business in Latin America and the Caribbean”, hosted by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with Thailand - Latin America Business Council, at AVANI Sukhumvit hotel.

The seminar was attended by representatives from government agencies, private sectors, academic and media sectors, and was broadcasted live via Zoom application and the Ministry’s Facebook page.

The seminar provided all participants with first-hand information and insights from the 9 Ambassadors of the Group of Latin America and the Caribbean (GRULAC) in Thailand, consisting of Argentina, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Guatemala, Mexico, Panama and Peru, about economic potential, including economic cooperation and trade, investment and tourism opportunities, in these countries. The seminar also promoted the “New Market” policy, which is in line with the Royal Thai Government’s New Normal, Post-COVID-19 context, focusing on economic recovery.

Information on potential products for exports and imports as well as procedures, regulations, incentives and reliable business partners in LAC were presented at the seminar for Thai entrepreneurs to utilise in doing businesses with greater confidence. In this regard, Ambassador of Argentina to Thailand, as GRULAC Dean, reaffirmed that a distance between Latin America and Thailand was not an obstacle, but a challenge that can certainly be overcome by closer economic collaboration between Thai and Latin American peoples.

The seminar also featured a special lunch talk, by Dr. Luxmon Attapich, Deputy Secretary-General of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC), on investment opportunities in the EEC. In addition, the Ministry officially launched the latest version of Discover Latin America (DLA) mobile application that made available its first volume of DLA MAGAZINE as its new application feature.

Latin America and the Caribbean (LAC) has diverse and abundant natural resources and is home to markets of 650 million population. In 2020, trade between Thailand and LAC amounted to over 10,000 million US dollars. Despite being affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, the two-way trade still has high potential for expansion particularly in the New Normal environment, in which the 9 Latin American countries present at the seminar are top LAC trading partners of Thailand.