On Tuesday August 7, 2012, members of Nordic Chambers together with other chambers gathered for a breakfast seminar at the Sheraton Grande Sukhumvit, Bangkok and were treated to an overview about the objectives and initiatives of Thailand’s Private Sector’s Collective Action Against Corruption.
The breakfast seminar featured Dr. Bandid Nijathaworn, President and CEO of the Thai Institute of Directors (IOD) who spoke on the topic. Approximately 36 members participated and were welcomed by Ms. Savija Pannark Korslund, Executive Director of DanCham.
To begin with, Dr. Bandid Nijathaworn expressed his gratitude for being invited to the Breakfast Seminar, especially as it was a great opportunity for the coalition to inform a wider public about its objectives. Accordingly, its main task is to help the private sector in Thailand promote cleaner business seeing as corruption currently poses a serious problem. For this reason, the private sector needs to assert collective pressure to combat corruptive behavior. Most importantly, Dr. Bandid Nijathaworn stressed that a main goal is to change the general attitude towards corruption rather than punishing specific individuals.
Moreover, members learned that 94 companies have already signed the Coalition Against Corruption (CAC), which commits them to fighting corruption at three different levels: internally, externally and collectively. The intended end result is to see companies take collective action, implement a code of conduct, educate and train the staff, receive a certification and reach out to other stakeholders. In this respect, the company with best practices, in terms of committing to these initiatives, will receive an award after audits that will take place in 2013.
After the presentation there was a Q&A session. There were some fantastic thought provoking questions that really got the ball rolling and allowed everyone to dive deeper into the subject.
The Joint Chambers’ Breakfast Seminar was presented in a collaboration by Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce, Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce, Thai-Finnish Chamber of Commerce, Thai-Hong Kong Trade Association, Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce, Thai-Norwegian Chamber of Commerce, Thai-Swedish Chamber of Commerce, and Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce.
