The Department of International Economic Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in collaboration with the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) co-organised a seminar on “OECD Economic Outlook for Southeast Asia, China and India 2019: Towards Smart Urban Transportation” on Wednesday, 3 April 2019 at Narathip Auditorium, Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The seminar, presided over by Mrs. Vilawan Mangklatanakul, Director-General of the Department of International Economic Affairs, was well attended by more than 120 participants from government agencies, private and academic sectors, as well as the diplomatic missions in Thailand.

 

      The Seminar started with a presentation on the OECD Economic Outlook 2019 edition by Mr. Kensuke Tanaka, Head of Asia Desk, OECD Development Centre. Mr. Tanaka presented that the economic expansion rate in Emerging Asia (Southeast Asia, China and India) remained robust; their GDP was expected to grow by an annual average of 6.1 percent in 2019 – 2023. However, challenges to the outlook would be related to the export performance amidst rising protectionism, opportunity and risks of FinTech and quality of response to natural disaster. Moreover, the thematic focus of this year is “Smart Urban Transportation”, with a special focus on transportation, particularly traffic congestion in Emerging Cities. The report suggests a number of policy options including expanding and upgrading public transportation, the use a new technology to manage the system (ICT and big data), encouraging flexible working hours, and the price-based and non-price-based policy to limit the number of vehicles in the cities.

 

      The representatives of the Ministry of Transport (Dr. Chayatan Phromsorn) and the Bank of Thailand (Dr. Rungporn Porngpitaya) were invited to share their ideas on macroeconomic trends and urban traffic system management. 

 

      This seminar is an annual event co-organised by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the OECD for more than 9 years and is a reflection of the strong and long-lasting collaboration between Thailand and the OECD.