AMCHAM Discusses Ease of Doing Business

On March 30, AMCHAM President Ornkanya (Mook) Pibuldham, represented AMCHAM and US businesses at a meeting with ten Political Parties on ease of doing business and promotion of foreign investment at the University of Thai Chamber of Commerce. Her comments included AMCHAM’s messages on costs of energy and renewable energy, careful consideration of minimum wage increases, digital services and facilitation of intellectual property patent process, the new Long-Term Resident (LTR) visa and AMCHAM’ aim to have it cover more industries. She also discussed the extension of tax loss carry forward to more than five years, the implementation of global minimum tax rules under Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD’s pillar two and notice and inclusion for foreign businesses in public hearings.  

The meeting presented an opportunity for synergy between businesses and the campaigning political parties. During the question-and-answer session, political parties emphasized that the new government must ally and work closely with the private sector, provide free education to Thai citizens until they earn a bachelor’s degree, upskill and reskill workforces to cope with a changing world, centralize and link data among government agencies, establish more special economic zones across the country, including free zone along borders; and strategically negotiate Free Trade Agreements, especially with larger economic regions and countries.