On Tuesday 8 May, the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC 15) came under scrutiny at the monthly breakfast seminar when Andrew Durieux, Chairman of the JFCCT AEC Committee, shared his knowledge regarding the threats and opportunities for businessmen in Thailand with regards to AEC 2015.
The monthly breakfast seminar this time took place at Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit Hotel, where Mr. Peter Bjork, Executive Director for Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce, welcomed everyone and gave a presentation of the speaker, Mr. Andrew Durieux. Mr. Durieux was previously the president of the Australian Thai Chamber of Commerce for 2 years but now acts as a representative of the New Zealand Thai Chamber of Commerce and also Chairman of the JFCCT AEC Committee. He shared his knowledge about AEC 2015 with the participants, among which the Danish Ambassador, H. E. Mr. Mikael Hemniti Winther was present.
Mr. Durieux gave an introduction to both JFCCT and ASEAN, where he focused on ASEAN Economic Community (AEC). Mr. Durieux listed AEC 2015 related elements, such as the aims, status, complications and also the challenges and threats. Among those things Mr. Durieux stated the differences between ASEAN vs. EEC and the core elements of AEC such as free flow of goods, services and investment, and free flow of capital and skilled labor. Mr. Durieux also mentioned that CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) operate under special policies in relation to AEC 2015 due to their economic status. Finally, Mr. Durieux also discussed whether Thailand would measure up to the 2015 plan.
Towards the end there was also a Q&A section where many relevant questions were asked, such as whether AEC can reach its aims for 2015, the role of the rules of origin in relation to the aims, and JFCCT’s future role in AEC 2015.
As a show of appreciation for the very informative seminar Mr. Andrew Durieux received at gift on behalf of all the involved chambers.
