THAILAND – The Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has used its 2011 Exhibition Forum to tell businesses and politicians that exhibitions in Thailand and the ASEAN region are a “vital mechanism” in the march towards economic growth and integration.
At the event, held on 20 January, co-chairman of the ASEAN Business Advisory Council Mr Arin Jira said there is an inexorable move towards ASEAN becoming a single market and production base.
While Europe and the United States are plagued by debt and stagnation, ASEAN offers huge growth potential and is already the fastest growing region in the world, he commented.
ASEAN secretary general Mr Surin Pitsuwan, speaking via video link, said that ASEAN was becoming “one integrated competitive marketplace”.
“I hope people wake up and realize ASEAN is moving forward with all its jigsaw pieces in place, whatever industry you are in,” he said. “The [ASEAN] house is being built. Its structure is in place. The roof is being put together…this house is for all of us.”
Jira added that tremendous economic growth in India and China had brought forward ASEAN’s planned integration from 2010 to 2015 in order to keep Southeast Asia competitive, and “sustain prosperity gains”. He said the ASEAN Business Advisory Council had direct access to ASEAN’s political leaders who generally adopted the council’s pro-business recommendations.
Automotive parts, electronics, machinery and metalwork production, tourism, manufacturing and assembly, halal food and healthcare were given as the seven sectors where ASEAN offers economic potential.
There was a word of caution from Jime Essink, president and CEO of exhibition organiser UBM Asia. Essink told the forum that government agencies should not organise subsidised shows that undermine private sector exhibition organisers.
However, he condoned the impact of state bodies such as TCEB for the role they play in offering incentives, extending tax breaks, creating infrastructure and implementing a favourable regulatory environment for exhibition growth across the region. Essink raised Malaysia’s policy of not taxing exhibitions that attract over 500 foreign exhibitors as an example of the kind of incentive that spurs growth.
The Thai Exhibition Association said space at exhibitions held in the country should increase by 10 per cent next year if local political problems ease, according to a director of the Thai Exhibition Association (TEA).
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