Jaruwan

Blogger: Jaruwan Suwannasat, Director, Exhibition and Events Department of TCEB

Thai Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha staged a trade summit in the Russia city of Sochi last month, taking a contingent of 30 major Thai private enterprises and introducing them to 100 Russian private enterprises hoping to convince them to invest in Thailand.

His intention with the meeting was to boost bilateral trade with Russia within five years, primarily in the agriculture, food, rubber and electronics industries. However, while these meetings may light the match, it is interaction on the trade show floor that will fan the flames of private sector partnerships.

Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) has been busy closer to home. Last month it arranged a business forum in Jakarta to help entice more visitors from Indonesia to its exhibitions back home. This move, which brought together key agencies and industry associations from South East Asia’s largest economy, aimed to increase Thailand’s influence in the regional ASEAN network.

Indonesia is one of the world’s leading producers of oil & gas, electrical appliances, palm oil, rubber, automotive and textiles. Already an active participant in Thailand’s trade shows, Indonesia contributed almost six per cent of total overseas visitors at Thailand’s trade shows in 2015.

TCEB was also in Vietnam in May, hoping to capitalise on a 2010 Memorandum of Understanding struck between TCEB and its Vietnamese counterpart Vietrade. Vietnam is one of the world’s leading exporters of tea, rubber and fishery products, and is also the world’s leading producer of cashew nuts and black pepper, second only to Thailand in terms of rice export, or to Brazil in terms of coffee production.

The MoU with Vietnam was established to generate mutually beneficial promotion and collaboration between the two organisations. Just shy of seven per cent of the total overseas visitors to attend exhibitions in Thailand in 2010-2015 hailed from Vietnam.

Both Indonesia’s and Vietnam’s visitors paid greatest interest to the Food & Agriculture sector, Automotive and Health & Wellness industries – in which Thailand can be considered a major player.

Seen from the perspective of the global exhibition organiser, the two countries have much that complements Thailand’s own offering – an offer sweetened further by the trading benefits of the AEC.

Thailand’s connectivity, both in the ASEAN and far away in countries such as Russia, is why its reputation as an exhibition hub is unparalleled in South East Asia; as ASEAN countries collaborate in promoting the exhibition industry, regional demand for shows goes from strength to strength.