Speaking at the “44th anniversary of Thansettakij” forum titled “The Iconic Path to Success” hosted by Thansettakij under Nation Group Media, he emphasised the critical need for the Thai public and private sectors to collaborate in accelerating the country’s readiness for the digital and green economy.
He predicted that the next several decades would be a golden era for Southeast Asia as countries around the world would seek new neutral partners and green supply chains to secure their growth in a more sustainable way.
He noted that while the ASEAN region has demonstrated the potential to thrive in a green and digital economy, Thailand, unfortunately, is not as prepared as its neighbours.
He cited the lack of skilled workers as an example.
While Vietnam can produce at least 500,000 skilled workers in STEM (Sciences, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics) fields each year, Thailand can only produce 10,000.
“STEM skills are the future in terms of labour requirements of the digital economy. So, there is no doubt that Vietnam would be more preferable than Thailand in the long run,” he said.
He suggested that Thailand work towards seriously supporting labour across all generations by equipping them with new skills, while also reforming laws and regulations and providing appropriate incentives to attract international talent to the country.
“If we are not smart, we must collaborate with smart people and learn from them. For that, we need to remove our barriers so that those talents can easily work in Thailand,” he said.
