Jaruwan CEM1

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

Lao PDR is a country experiencing remarkable and stable economic growth, a fact that increases its stock as a trading partner for businesses seeking to find Laotian partnerships at exhibitions in Thailand and the ASEAN. In fact this year the Asian Development Bank predicted that Lao’s economy will grow 7.3 per cent.

This economic growth makes the fact more than 28,000 Laotians visited Thailand in 2015; a figure up 26 per cent on 2014, all the more substantial. Lao has become a considerable trading partner for Thailand.

So it will come as little surprise that our governments are working together to promote core shared industries, and exhibitions are a major access point for people around the world to get involved.

Key to this collaboration is Lao positioning itself as ‘Asia’s Battery’, a fact that brings it into logical coalition with industry in Thailand. Energy production and storage is one of the five sectors that Thailand, and specific to our industry – TCEB – is working to develop.

Rising demand for energy, offset against depleting fossil fuels is pushing the market not just in ASEAN but worldwide, towards non-conventional sources of energy. Energy demand is expected to increase by 70 per cent between 2012 and 2035.

On 21-22 September Thailand’s General Anantaporn Kanjanarat revealed that Thailand has signed an MoU for a Power Integration Project with Lao PDR and Malaysia, which it hopes will contribute towards energy security in the region.

In March next year, the Sustainable Energy & Technology Asia 2017 event (SETA 2017) takes place at BITEC in Bangkok. It will be followed by the Asean Sustainable Energy Week 2017 in June, events that cover the storage and distribution of energy from renewable sources.

We hope to attract the likes of key industry players such as General Electric, NEC Corporation and NRG Energy, which lead the way in the global energy storage device market. And this year, we expect to see a greater discussion between such firms and providers across the border in our neighbour, Lao.

With the market accelerating towards non-conventional sources of energy, the future seems promising for exhibitions and events in the energy storage devices market. And while geographically, ASEAN, North America, and Europe are the three most lucrative markets for storage devices, the ASEAN market is the most diverse, with a large population base and robust economic growth.

Partnerships such as the one blossoming between Thailand and Lao are powering the spotlight on South East with more energy than ever.