On 13 February 2018, the Department of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand, in collaboration with the Office of SMEs Promotion (OSMEP) of Thailand and the Australian Embassy in Thailand, hosted an “ASEAN – Australia Workshop: Future of Digital Transformation among ASEAN MSMEs” at Dusit Thani Bangkok. The meeting was preceded by an opening session which H.E. Mr. Paul Robilliard, Australian Ambassador to Thailand, and Mr. Suriya Chindawongse, Director-General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs delivered welcome remarks, and Mr. Suwanchai Lohawatanakul, Director-General of the Office of SMEs Promotion, delivered opening remarks. The workshop brought together about 130 participants from ASEAN Member States and Australia, both public and private sector, Micro Small and Medium Enterprises (MSMEs), as well as the ASEAN Secretariat.

The Director-General of the Department of ASEAN Affairs referred to this workshop as a proposal of Thailand at the First ASEAN – Australia Biennial Summit in Vientiane, Lao PDR, on 7 September 2016. It aims to share best practices of MSMEs which have successfully digitalized their businesses and of the public sector in promoting digitalization. The Director-General also underscored the importance of inclusive partnerships for achieving the goal as envisioned in the ASEAN Strategic Action Plan on SME Development Plan (SAPSMED) 2016 – 2025. The MSMEs are still the backbone of ASEAN economy and also one of the driving forces for economic development and employment as it is predicted that by 2030 digital technologies in ASEAN could potentially be worth up to 625 billion USD or 8 percent of ASEAN’s GDP in that year.

During the workshop, the participants exchanged views and experiences and agreed that digitalization will raise productivity of MSMEs and create more business opportunities to entrepreneurs. The participants also discussed digitalization challenges for MSMEs such as the lack of digital literacy, lack of technology access, cyber security, and the public policy implementation; and how to promote MSMEs digitalization. Recommendations were made including (1) promoting productivity, technology and innovation, (2) increasing access to finance, (3) enhancing market access and internationalization, (4) enhancing policy and regulatory environment, and (5) promoting entrepreneurship and human capital development. 

The outcomes of the workshop will be submitted to the ASEAN – Australia Business Summit which is one of the sideline events of the ASEAN – Australia Special Summit to be held in Sydney, Australia.