nsec symposium (presentation ii 08 tha chiangrai chamber)

8/6/2019 NSEC Symposium (Presentation II 08 THA Chiangrai Chamber)

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Summary of Data about Chiangrai ProvincePresented in the Academic Conference for the Development ofNorth-South Economic CorridorUnder GMS Plan*****************

Data on Capabilities as a whole of Chiangrai Province.

Chiangrai Province is located in an appropriate areaconnected with neighboring countries Myanmar, Loas, andSouthern China by both land route and water route. The province isthe gate for trading and investment, especially to the North-SouthEconomic Corridor (NSEC) of Thailand and other regions. It is alsothe connecting point to conveniently like to other countries indifferent regions.

Chiangrai covers the land of 11,678 square kilometers. Most ofthe areas are used for agriculture which covers one third of the totalarea. The province is the place which produces foods and importantagricultural products of the Northern region. These importantproducts are rubber, jasmine rice, glutinous rice, tea, coffee, oilpalm, Lychee, Longan, pineapple, pomela, ginger, corn, Tilapia fish,beef, and pork.

Moreover, the province has high potential on various types of

tourism natural and ecological tourism, agricultural tourism,health tourism, historical tourism, Lanna cultural tourism, and theavailability of social capital and Lanna cultural capital which makeits identities notable.

The following map presents the areas of Chiangrai.


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At present or in the future, what is your province doing tojointly develop and link with Myanmar, Laos, and/or China(cooperation, agreement, and developmental projects)?

Chiangrai Province has jointly developed the connectionwith China by making the agreement together with Kunming andXishuangbanna in accordance with the Sister Cities project madesince 2000 in order to build up the cooperation in various activities.

These activities include, for example, trade and investment,agriculture, education, and public health. The development alsocovers the cross-border trade between Chiangrai and China throughthe R3B Route in Myanmar and R3A Route in Laos as well as theconnection of trades with China through the water route in MekongRiver from Jinghong Port to Chiangsaen Port and ChiangkhongPort.

The relationships between Chiangrai Province and TaChiLekProvince in Myanmar appears as the cooperation of securities, andtrading among the people at Mae Sai Custom Checkpoint.


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For the relationships with Laos, the people of the two

countries have travelled back and forth for their personal affairs andtrading activities by passing through Chiangsaen Checkpoint andChiangkhong Checkpoint with Luangnamtha District, and BokaewDistrict respectively.

At present, there are many infrastructure projects that arebeing developed. These projects include:

1. The 4th bridge construction scheme across Mekong Riverat Huayxai-Chiangkhong with the cooperation from the 4 sectors:Thailand, Laos, China, and ADB. This construction is expectedly tocomplete around 2014.

2.The establishment of industrial settlement scheme atChiangkhong District, Chiangrai Province. The areas of this

settlement cover 16,000 rais. At the beginning, the transprotationstation and goods distribution center will be established, and theindustrial activities will be later considered.

3.The 2nd port construction scheme for handling the goodstransporting ships with the highest 300 tones weight or 210 gross.This constructional project is expected to complete around 2012.

4. The 4 lane road expansion scheme for handling tradingactivities and investment and the connection of the 2nd ChiangsaenPort and the 4th Bridge across Mekong River (Huayxai-Chiangkhong) are implemented.

5. The 2nd checkpoint at Mae Sai scheme for facilitating andhandling the land transportation is implemented. This project hasbeen completed and accessed in 2009.

At present, what types of economic activities / businesses havebeen implemented by your province with Myanmar, Laos, and /or

China, especially in the North-South Economic Corridor?

- The province has exported and imported the products withMyanmar, Laos, and China. The important products are: goods forconsumption and utilities, agricultural products, capital goods, andborder trade values. It can be summarized as in the following table.


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Table 1: Border trade values of Chiangrai Provinceduring 2008 - 2010Unit: Million Baht2008 2009 2010TradeValue Expansion% TradeValue Expansion% TradeValue Expansion%

Import 2,505 -0.08 2,603 3.91 3,071 17.98Export 11,208 12.02 11,797 5.25 18,006 52.63

TotalValue

13,713 9.6 14,400 5.00 21,077 46.31

Table 2: Border trade values of Chiangrai with other countriesduring January to December 2010Unit: Million Baht

CountryTrade Value during January to December2010 Jan-Dec.2009

PercentageComparisonBetween 2009and 2010Import Export Balanceof Trade TotalChina 2,255.51 3,4250.02 1,169.51 5,680.53 5,156.73 10.16 %

Myanmar 219.79 9,969.56 9,749.77 10,189.35 6,335.11 60.84 %Laos 507.75 2,459.13 1,951.38 2,966.88 2,626.23 79.04 %Total 3,071.42 18,005.73 14,934 21,077.15 14,400.21 46.37 %

Source: Office of Commerce Affairs

Moreover, there are many economic activities implementedcooperatively with GMS/BIMSTEC countries and some othercountries as in the following.

1. The support for the entrepreneur groups in the province fortrading with GMS/BIMSTEC countries by organizing workshops onmarketing, the preparation for participating in product exhibitions,

running business for exporting, trading negotiation, negotiationtechniques and making business partners, and taking the trainedentrepreneurs to participate in Chiang Mai GMS Fair 2010.

2. Organizing product exhibition and product distributionamong the provinces located in the upper northern region ofThailand and GMS country group, for example, Thailand GMS Fair& Cultural Show 2011 in order to reflect the creative background ofthe cooperation through various projects and the cultural

connections among the GMS countries. These activities arecontinually implemented with the excellent relationship among the


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countries and they are the important tools for expanding thecooperation of other aspects.

Preparation, problematic issues, and solutions in facilitating thetrading activities and cross-border transportation with Myanmar,Laos, and/or China (bordering provinces)

Preparation- Chiangrai Province has developed infrastructures,

transportation routes, and services at checkpoints more effectivelyand up-to-date. These facilities are prepared at some level. However,these need to have an agreement in the measure and regulationswith the neighboring countries for implementing the relevant workunder the same standard. These include: the inspection of goods

through Single Window system, the service development of privatesectors and the people residing in the local areas, the language usedfor communication, and the establishment of one stop service centersat the 3 checkpoints.

Problems1. The agreement of cross-border transportation in the

Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS CBTA) and the exchange ofcustom transit system (CTS) are not practically in effect since theMinistry of Transportation has draught the negotiation frame for theagreement of land transportation among Thailand-Laos-China inorder to prepare the logistics of product transportation andpassengers among Thai Laos China when the 4th RelationshipBridge has completely construction. Nonetheless, the cabinet hasapproved on the proposal on 9th February 2011, they withdrew theproposal from the parliament on 4th May 2011.

2. The connection of the missing links. The Railroad

Construction Scheme, Denchai Chiangrai Chiangkhong has notyet launched. At present, this project is at the stage of studying anddesigning for preparing the construction. Moreover, theestablishment of goods transferring center in Chiangkhong Districtis not yet practically implemented.

3. Coordinative Strategies among the countries situated alongthe North-South Economic Corridor for boosting the works, forsupporting the roles, and for developing the capabilities of privatesectors are not relevant and practical.


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4. Information distribution among the countries situated inNorth-South Economic Corridor, including the coordination amongthe governmental sectors located in the NSEC of the country areless.

5. The entrepreneurs in the Greater Mekong Sub-region

countries, especially SME groups use their special right on tax underthe Asian Free Trade Area (AFTA). Since the raw materials in Asiaare little, they import raw materials from outside Asian countriesand this makes them unable to use their rights. Moreover, theproblems are also on the lack of foreign language skills and theuncertainty of production and export frequently occurs.

What are the benefits you expect to have for your province fromthe development under the GMS frame and the development in

regards of economic zone? What are the main problems and obstaclesneeded urgent solutions?

- The development under GMS frame and the development inthe regards of the economic zone will lead the benefits to theprovince by activating the entrepreneurs and the people in theareas, handling the economic expansion anticipating to immediateincrease. The reception of the large group of investors entering thekingdom causes the local entrepreneurs of the province have to

adjust themselves for competition. Chiangrai Province might gettrivial benefit, but it might lose good environment and face theimpacts from the unbalanced new cultures which flow into thecountry. For this, it needs to set up the relevant measures toconsider that which investment groups can do their businesses inthe Economic Corridor, and how they reduce the loss of goodenvironment or what benefits they really want to offer to ChiangraiProvince as substitution, including the offer of opportunities for thelocal entrepreneurs to have basic rights to jointly invest or beresponsible for the group businesses in the relevant proportion.

Moreover, to unify the cooperation under the GMS frame, itneeds to agree upon the currency used in the region as the corestandard for exchange and trading in both of the region and amongother regions of the world.

How does the province plan to handle the opportunities in cross-border activity development which will increase continually in thefuture? At the same time, how will the communities with some


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limitations handle with the cross-border contagious diseases, safedriving, and languages for communication (every province)?

- Chiangrai Province has prepared the plan to handle the

opportunities for developing cross-border activities which will be

increasing by proposing working schemes continually. The importantproposals are as follows.

The enhancement of relationship with the neighbors. The establishment of One Stop Service Center (OSS) at the 3

border checkpoints. The promotion of tourism at provincial level and

Greater Mekong Sub-region level. The exhibition of products and product distribution of the

upper northern group and the GMS group. The enhancement of entrepreneurs knowledge in the

provincial group for trading with GMS countries.

- For the limitations in handling the cross-border contagiousdiseases, safe driving, and languages for communication, theprovince has implemented the following works:

The promotion of teaching and learning Chinese. The enhancement on strengthening the communities situated

in bordering areas.

Moreover, there is the project for the study and making the modelscheme on border economic development which is now beingimplemented in order to know the impacts and their additionalsolutions.

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nsec symposium (presentation ii 08 tha chiangrai chamber)

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