Government accepts CEO proposals for urgent economic push

Prime Minister and Interior Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said the government will take forward proposals from Thailand’s leading business figures as urgent economic agenda items, while reviving the Joint Public-Private Committee in a more proactive role to drive national competitiveness.

Anutin opened a joint government-private sector forum at the Pakdee Bodin Building, Government House, at 5pm on May 15, 2026, to discuss ways to improve Thailand’s economic competitiveness. Cabinet members, senior private-sector executives and heads of government agencies attended the meeting.

Government spokeswoman Rachada Dhnadirek said the Prime Minister thanked all participants for joining the discussion, noting that many of them had long known one another. He said the meeting was a valuable opportunity for the government and private sector to exchange views on Thailand’s future direction amid rapid global changes in geopolitics, technology, innovation and the environment, all of which directly affect the economy and people’s quality of life.

Anutin said the key goal of the forum was to listen to views from all sectors so the government could better support Thai entrepreneurs across industries and help them compete at their full potential.

He said the government had continued to prioritise reducing obstacles and strengthening the private sector, including by improving overlapping regulations and approval procedures, tackling labour shortages, developing worker skills to match modern industries and pushing green industries, which are becoming increasingly important to the global economy.

ASEAN, clean energy and food security

Anutin also referred to his participation in the ASEAN Summit in the Philippines last week, saying Thailand had pushed cooperation on energy stability through the ASEAN Power Grid, as well as clean-energy cooperation and food security.

He stressed that “ASEAN must speak with one voice more often” to strengthen regional resilience, increase bargaining power and raise ASEAN’s role in global geopolitics.

Anutin said many countries were now prioritising clean energy, logistics and food security, areas where Thailand has strong potential and readiness. He said Thailand could become an ASEAN hub for driving these areas of cooperation and help strengthen economic security for the wider region.

Thailand therefore has an important opportunity to raise its economic potential more than many countries, he said. However, success would be possible only if the public and private sectors move forward together.

The Prime Minister said his government was ready to facilitate business in every dimension and would not cling to old constraints, outdated laws or complicated procedures. The government would accelerate efforts to make business, investment and employment more flexible, helping strengthen the country’s capacity and allowing enterprises in all sectors to grow.

Anutin said senior government officials and agencies, including deputy prime ministers, economic agencies, the National Economic and Social Development Council and the Board of Investment, had joined the event to listen closely to private-sector proposals.

He said the government intended the forum to be the starting point for deeper discussions, so that proposals and needs from all sectors could be turned into concrete action.

The Prime Minister ended by saying the success of the private sector is the success of Thailand. He asked all parties to discuss issues fully and said the government would host a dinner for leading private-sector figures later in the day, with the aim of using all proposals, ideas and information received to benefit the country and the public.

Ten business groups present proposals

After Anutin’s remarks, the Prime Minister and Cabinet listened to proposals from senior private-sector executives representing 10 key industry groups.

The groups included the main private-sector institutions under the Joint Standing Committee on Commerce, Industry and Banking, represented by Pimjai Leeissaranukul, chairwoman of the Federation of Thai Industries; Payong Srivanich, chairman of the Thai Bankers’ Association; Poj Aramwattananont, chairman of the Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand; and Noppong Teeravorn, president of the Federation of Thai SME.

Other representatives included Kalin Sarasin, chairman of Toyota Motor Thailand, for the automotive sector; Thienprasit Chaiyapatranun, president of the Thai Hotels Association, for hotels and tourism; and Poramaporn Prasarttong-Osoth, chief executive officer of BDMS, for healthcare.

The construction and property sector was represented by Thammasak Setha-udom, president and chief executive officer of SCG, while retail and consumer goods were represented by Suthisarn Chirathivat, chief executive officer of Central Retail Corporation, and Vathit Chokwatana, vice-chairman of the executive board and managing director of Saha Pathanapibul.

The energy sector was represented by Sarath Ratanavadi, chief executive officer of Gulf; finance by Kattiya Indaravijaya, chief executive officer of Kasikornbank; technology by Sampan Silapanad, senior adviser at Delta Electronics Thailand; and agriculture and food by Dhanin Chearavanont, senior chairman of Charoen Pokphand Group.

Four strategic groups

After the meeting, Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas summarised the private-sector proposals into four major strategic groups: infrastructure investment, human-capital development, technology transfer and future industries.

He said that although the global economy continues to face volatility, Thailand still has major opportunities from the relocation of production bases, talent and supply chains to the region.

Private-sector representatives from all sectors agreed that Thailand must urgently invest in future infrastructure, especially clean energy, water management and human-resource development.

They also called for Thailand to make better use of foreign direct investment to secure technology and knowledge transfer, helping upgrade new growth engines such as advanced technology, artificial intelligence and modern logistics.

Ekniti said the government aimed to connect these opportunities to Thai entrepreneurs at all levels, especially SMEs, micro-SMEs and local businesses, so that state support reaches them widely and concretely, rather than allowing growth to be concentrated only among certain groups.

Government to speed up obstacle removal

The government will also accelerate efforts to remove major obstacles raised by the private sector, including approval procedures, regulatory facilitation and infrastructure limitations.

The goal is to improve Thailand’s investment environment so it becomes more flexible, transparent and competitive at the international level.

Ekniti said the BOI Fast Track measure had already begun to show concrete results, attracting more than 200 billion baht in actual investment in the first quarter of the year. This reflected investor confidence in Thailand’s economic potential and the government’s policy direction.

Proactive public-private committee to return

Ekniti said the government would move all private-sector proposals from the meeting into serious implementation.

The government will also revive the cooperation mechanism between the public and private sectors: the Joint Public-Private Committee to Solve Economic Problems and give it a more proactive role.

The committee is expected to help unite the public and private sectors in driving Thailand’s economy in a more systematic way, strengthening the country from the grassroots and improving its long-term competitiveness.