JSCCIB, Finance Ministry, BOT, NESDC and World Bank unite to reinvent Thailand

Thailand’s leading private-sector organisations plan to use the Bangkok Business Summit 2026 on Thursday (September 3, 2026) to launch a sustained drive for economic restructuring, new growth engines and stronger action against corruption.

The Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking (JSCCIB) is organising the event with the Finance Ministry, the Bank of Thailand, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council and the World Bank. The summit will be held under the theme “Reinvent Thailand, Resilient ASEAN”.

The initiative builds on “Reinvent Thailand”, proposed by Thai Bankers’ Association chairman Payong Srivanich as a marker for structural reform. Its direction also broadly corresponds with World Bank studies and recommendations.

The summit comes before Bangkok hosts the IMF-World Bank Group Annual Meetings from October 12-18, 2026, the first time the meetings have returned to the capital in 35 years. Organisers also want the programme to support preparations for Thailand’s ASEAN chairmanship in 2028.

Three forces behind the reform drive

Pacharaphot Nantramas, an executive vice-president at Krungthai Bank representing the Thai Bankers’ Association, said businesses agreed that Thailand’s existing economic model could no longer generate sufficient growth.

Thailand must therefore accelerate its transformation, improve competitiveness and establish new economic engines, he said.

Changes in global supply chains also offered Thailand a window of opportunity because international companies and investors were searching for new locations for production, investment and business connections. Thailand would have to build trust and confidence to capture that investment.

Pacharapoj identified three forces supporting the transformation:

• Private-sector momentum, with businesses sharing a commitment to reinvent Thailand.
• Global knowledge and benchmarks, particularly World Bank studies and recommendations showing how Thailand could improve its competitiveness.
• Policy continuity and public-private cooperation through government mechanisms and the Joint Public and Private Sector Consultative Committee.

“The JSCCIB wants to use the Bangkok Business Summit as the starting point of a journey,” Pacharapoj said. “It must not end when the event ends, but lead to action.”

The summit is expected to explore ways to remove structural obstacles and establish new growth engines. It will also give Thailand an opportunity to present its strengths and investment potential to international investors.

The message organisers want to deliver is: “Thailand is ready for transformation and ready for investment.”

Pacharaphot said Thailand must demonstrate a shared direction, effective public-private cooperation and the ability to implement policy. The goal is to turn global disruption into investment and growth opportunities for Thailand and ASEAN.

Organisers want the summit to produce a clear order of priorities, assign responsibility, set implementation timetables and establish measurable results. Its momentum is intended to continue through the IMF-World Bank meetings and Thailand’s ASEAN chairmanship.

ASEAN supply chains and corruption reform

Poj Aramwattananont, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and the Board of Trade of Thailand, said Thai businesses wanted ASEAN to develop into a genuinely integrated supply chain before Thailand assumes the regional chairmanship.

Poj described ASEAN’s 650 million people as a market larger than Europe and twice the size of the United States. Excluding Singapore and Brunei, he said, most ASEAN members had resources, workforce skills and broadly similar tariff conditions for exports to the US.

Connecting their supply chains and exporting to world markets under a common tariff base could substantially increase ASEAN’s bargaining power and competitiveness, he said. The JSCCIB plans to maintain its programme through 2026 and 2027 and into Thailand’s chairmanship in 2028.

Poj, who also chairs the JSCCIB’s Zero Corruption working group, warned that economic restructuring would achieve little unless Thailand addressed corruption.

“If we cannot solve corruption, every attempt to reform the economy will fail,” he said.

The “Zero Corruption: JSCCIB and Friends Will Not Tolerate It” project has operated as a parallel flagship programme since October 1, 2025. It is intended to address Thailand’s decline to 116th place in the global corruption ranking.

The working group held a forum on August 5, 2026, to examine corruption risks in individual industries. It has also worked with a joint public-private subcommittee chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Pakorn Nilprapunt to review secondary legislation, including ministerial regulations and official announcements, within two months.

The legal review aims to reduce officials’ discretionary authority to zero, closing opportunities for bribery and removing obstacles that undermine foreign investor confidence. The programme also calls for government information to be connected through digital systems to make procurement more transparent.

The JSCCIB plans to invite representatives of the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development to a seminar on October 1, 2026. The event will support the government’s target of securing OECD membership by 2028, with transparency standards treated as part of the strategy to improve national competitiveness.

Poj said the programme had received positive signals from Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul and Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas, who were prepared to consider detailed private-sector proposals and integrate practical measures into government policy.

Industry seeks greener infrastructure

Pimjai Leeissaranukul, chairwoman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), said the organisation would use the summit to represent the views of its 16,000 industrial members, 85% of which are small and medium-sized enterprises.

She identified two forms of geopolitical pressure on Thai industry: the country’s reliance on imported energy, which she put at as much as 60%, and increasingly stringent global trade rules covering sustainability.

Thai industry must therefore adjust to global changes and make sustainability central to the transition towards the country’s net-zero target in 2050, she said.

The FTI is pursuing the transition through its “5i” strategy:

• Intelligent Industry, improving the efficiency of manufacturing processes.
• Innovation and Creativity, using innovation and creative work to develop brands, intellectual property and higher-value products.
• International Alliance and Network, strengthening trade and international cooperation networks.
• Industrial Infrastructure Reform, covering utilities, logistics, labour and legislation.
• Inclusive Sustainability, placing sustainable growth at the centre of industrial development.

The new Power Development Plan is expected to align with Thailand’s 2050 net-zero target by increasing the share of green electricity from the current 15%, helping the country compete for new investment.

Pimjai said attracting foreign investors would require more than tax incentives. Thailand would need competitively priced green infrastructure, effective management of water sources and water quality, recycling systems and stronger disaster preparedness.

She cited the country’s stable electricity supply, the relative rarity of power outages, flexible water management despite periodic flooding, the quality of its workforce and business-support measures such as BOI FastPass as advantages over some ASEAN competitors.