On Thursday 25 February 2010 from 2.30 pm to 5.30 pm, a Seminar on Doing Business in Thailand was held at the Singapore Business Federation Seminar Room 2. It was organized by the Singapore Federation Federation in collaboration with the Thai Trade Centre in Singapore, Royal Thai Embassy. Mr. Marut Jitpatima, Minister and Deputy Chief of Mission of the Royal Thai Embassy was invited to grace the opening ceremony and give an opening remarks. The seminar was also attended by Ms. Yanee Srimeechai, Acting Director of the Trade Centre of the Royal Thai Embassy, and Mrs. Sutthathip Vathitphund, First Secretary of the Royal Thai Embassy.

The seminar started by the welcoming remarks given by Mr. Alan Tan, Director (ASEAN & South Asia), Global Business Division, Singapore Business Federation. In his remarks, Mr. Tan said, among others, that “Thailand enjoyed a strategic location at the heart of Asia and is home to what is regarded today as one of the largest growing economic regional market” . He also expressed his confidence that the seminar would help sustain and further enhance Singaporean companies’ interest in doing business in Thailand.

Mr. Jitpatima, in his opening remarks reassured Singaporean businessmen of the normalcy of the situation in Thailand and of the Royal Thai government’s confidence in handling the situation . His remarks were followed by presentations given by 4 guest speakers i.e. Mrs. Vasana Mututanont, Director, International Affairs Bureau, Thailand Board of Investment, Ms. Angie C Wachirapinyopong, Lawyer, Kelvin Chia Partnership, Ms. Nuannapha Wongthawatchai, General Manager & Vice President, Krung Thai Bank, Mr. Herbert Vongpusanachai, Country Manager, DHL Express (Singapore), and Ms. Catherine Yeow, General Manager Thailand and Singapore, HRnetOne. These guests speakers told the seminar of key business information, latest updates and shared their valuable insights on the practical business know-how on doing business successfully in Thailand.

The last session of the seminar was Q&A. The participants were interested in knowing about  legal aspects of doing business in Thailand, human resources management in Thailand and security situation in Thailand etc. It was to be noted that on security matter, Ms Catherine Yeow of HRoneNet who was the only non-Thai speaker at the seminar, said that she had not felt any serious threat to her personal safety during the last 4 years that she had worked in Thailand. An interesting query was made if a company had different supporters from the Red, Blue and Yellow groups, would it have a severe impact on the company. Mr. Herbert Vongpusanachai, Country Manager of DHL Express,  replied that it would not pose a major management problem as the Thai workers understood that responsibilities as an employee and professional staff came first before political affiliations when working in the company. All in all, participants in the seminar were reassured that despite the challenging political situation in Thailand today, business still continue to flourish as usual.

SBF also took the opportunity to reassure SBF members at the seminar that one key indicator is the absence of any Singapore company withdrawing or closing down their established businesses in Thailand given the current local political situation and global economic slowdown. This is a very strong indication that Singapore businesses continue to place strong confidence in the Thai economy which is expected to rebound  and that Thailand remains a profitable market not to be missed out.