On 9 August 2016, the Department of International Economic Affairs of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with Department of Trade Negotiations  of the Ministry of Commerce co-hosted seminar on ‘Globalisation: Implications for the Asia-Pacific Region in the 21st Century and a dialogue on ‘the APEC Post-2020 Vision’, at C-ASEAN Convention Centre, Bangkok. Over one hundred participants from APEC missions in Thailand, Thailand’s APEC line agencies, business sector, think tanks and academic institutions attended this event.

The seminar focused on two main topics which were ‘How to promote a better understanding of the benefits of globalisation and multilateral economic cooperation?’ and ‘What should be a direction for APEC after the Bogor Goals is achieved in 2020?’

Experts highlighted substantial growths in trade and investment and a significant improvement in standards of living brought about by globalisation and trade liberalisation. Panellists also pointed out that there are big challenges that are associated with economic integration. Rapid changes caused by globalisation and industrial revolution create great urgency for us to adapt strategies and adjust policies as well as law and regulations on trade, investment and human resources, in response to these challenges.

Experiences shared by representatives from APEC economies strongly suggest that the Asia-Pacific remains committed to the multilateral economic cooperation. Apart from WTO, there are several bilateral and regional FTAs, and on-going FTAs negotiations. Chilean Ambassador to Thailand underlined the significant growth of Chilean economic after it joined APEC as well as other free trade agreements. Connecting domestic market with the world also enhanced local businesses’ capacity and increased their competitiveness in the medium term. There were obvious benefits for Vietnam when the country embarked on rapid liberalisation of its trade and investment policies. For Korea, industrialisation and globalisation are the key factors that lifted the country from severe poverty after the Korean War. However, the challenge of an imbalance growth and youth unemployment still remain critical for Korean economy. Deputy Director-General Ronnarong Poolpipat from Department of Trade Negotiations also emphasized importance of modernizing domestic laws and regulations to maximize economy’s benefit from trade liberalisation. According to the panellists’ discussion, the key areas that must be addressed are human resource development, rules and regulatory reform, connectivity improvement, formation of a comprehensive development policy and social safety net.

To respond to the uncertainties of the current world, and to plot its direction for the future, Dr. Narongchai Akrasanee, member the APEC Eminent Person Group for Bogor Goal, suggested that APEC should also pay attention to United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals. Dr. Alan Bollard, Executive Director of the APEC Secretariat, indicated that APEC should continue its role as a leading cooperation where members voluntarily work together to support a free and fair multilateral trading system. In addition, APEC should take into account new issues that related to new global economic landscape such as digitalisation, cyber security, connectivity, food security, climate change, new demographic structure and comprehensive rules and regulation reform. The meeting also agreed that APEC’s way forward after 2020 has to align with the SDGs.

This seminar kicked start series of activities that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs will organize to inform all stakeholders as a part of public outreach to publicize Thailand’s hosting of APEC in 2022. The participants enjoyed good exchanges of views and have also made useful comments as to how Thailand can
play active roles in such areas as human resource development and food security as our contribution to the discussion on shaping the APEC Post 2020 vision. Thailand’s Senior Official will report recommendations as well as the points taken from this seminar to the APEC SOM meeting in Ho Chi Minh later in August and also to the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting in Da Nang in November 2017.