From the ABAC to the IMF: A financial milestone for Thailand

The eyes of the Asia-Pacific business community have turned toward Bangkok as Thailand hosts the third APEC Business Advisory Council, or ABAC, meeting of 2026.  

ABAC serves as the official voice of business in the APEC process, providing private-sector perspectives to APEC Leaders. In October, Thailand will once again welcome the world for the 2026 Annual Meetings of the IMF and the World Bank. 

These back-to-back regional and global gatherings place Thailand in a unique position to bridge the private sector's near-term, on-the-ground needs with the longer-term policy goals of global policymakers.

This period represents a timely window of opportunity to improve the financial plumbing of our regional economy and to advance policies that support strong, sustainable, resilient, and inclusive growth.

My many visits to Thailand over the years have deepened both my appreciation for the country's hospitality and my respect for its forward-thinking approach – a reflection of its hua-chai nak buk-boek, or pioneering spirit. Several of the recommendations that ABAC's Finance and Economics Task Force, or FETF, is preparing to deliver to APEC Finance Ministers this year resonate closely with initiatives that first took root in Thailand.

Cross-border QR payment linkage: Thailand's leadership
Thailand has established itself as a regional leader in building a network of cross-border QR payment linkages, offering a practical model for financial integration. 

The country introduced a unified QR code standard, Thai QR, in 2017 and subsequently expanded cross-border QR payment linkages with Cambodia in 2020, followed by Viet Nam, Malaysia, and Indonesia in 2021. These initiatives have significantly improved the convenience of retail payments across ASEAN.

At the FETF, we are working to help expand QR code payment connectivity across the region and promote seamless, secure, and interoperable cross-border payment systems. A Thai entrepreneur in Chiang Mai should be able to transact with a buyer in Lima as easily and securely as if they were across the street.

Enhancing the global partnership against scams
The wider use of digital payments, however, also creates opportunities for bad actors seeking to exploit financial systems through fraud and scams. 

The 2025 Bangkok Joint Statement by the Global Partnership against Online Scams is a landmark international statement adopted in December 2025 at an international conference co-hosted by Thailand and the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, or UNODC. The statement was supported by nearly 70 economies as part of a global effort to combat online scams.

The FETF is fully aligned with these goals. Trust in digital finance and the digital economy cannot be sustained if fraud and scams are allowed to proliferate.

By promoting cross-sector public-private partnerships and strengthening international cooperation, the FETF is working to ensure that economies can better combat fraud and scams that drain billions of dollars from households, businesses, and the regional economy.

Digitizing the trade chain
The inefficiency of paper-based documentation is another friction tax that slows the regional economy, often adding days to shipping times and unnecessary costs to each transaction. 

Thailand, together with Singapore, has shown strong leadership within ABAC in promoting paperless trade. In 2022, five economies — Thailand, Singapore, Australia, New Zealand, and Japan — successfully participated in the electronic interconnection of trade platforms, as well as in a pilot project involving actual users between Thailand and Japan.

In January 2026, the Framework Agreement on Facilitation of Cross-border Paperless Trade in Asia and the Pacific, or CPTA, entered into force for Thailand. It provides a legal and technical framework to facilitate trade through digitalization, interoperability, and the mutual recognition of electronic trade documents. Thailand's participation in CPTA further reinforces its role as a regional leader in trade digitalization.

The FETF is working to scale these efforts across all 21 APEC economies, so that a digital certificate for a shipment leaving Laem Chabang can be recognized instantly by a customs official or a bank in Osaka, unlocking faster financing and helping build more resilient supply chains.

Finance for a realistic transition
While digital payments facilitate trade, the challenge of climate change requires a fundamental rethinking of how we finance our industries and their transition. 

Here again, Thailand's policy leadership provides an important reference point for the region. The Bangkok Goals on Bio-Circular-Green Economy, adopted at APEC 2022 in Thailand, underscore the importance of addressing environmental challenges comprehensively, including by mobilizing finance and investment for sustainability and climate action.

Many APEC economies remain heavily dependent on manufacturing and agriculture — sectors that cannot go green overnight without risking economic stability or local livelihoods. They need transition funding: patient capital that supports the shift from high-carbon to low-carbon operations in a credible, orderly, and economically realistic manner.

At the same time, the growing frequency and severity of natural disasters are widening financial protection gaps across the region. 

To support a realistic and resilient transition, the FETF is developing recommendations on transition finance and disaster risk finance and insurance, or DRFI, to help mobilize private capital, strengthen resilience, and protect households, businesses, and communities from increasingly severe climate-related shocks.

From July to October: A vision for the future
The ABAC meeting in Bangkok this week will conclude with the finalization and endorsement by the business community of 17 FETF recommendations for the region's finance and economic policymakers. Rather than a simple list of suggestions, these recommendations serve as practical steps for implementing the Incheon Plan, the new APEC Finance Ministers' Process Roadmap for 2026-30, which sets out a framework for shaping future policy priorities.

Thailand is uniquely qualified to carry this consensus into the IMF and the World Bank meetings in October. Its public and private sectors understand the nuances and challenges of the Global South and emerging markets, while also possessing the sophisticated financial infrastructure and expertise of a global hub.

Finally, we are deeply grateful to Mr. Kobsak Duangdee for his outstanding contribution to ABAC and the FETF for more than a decade. As he steps back from ABAC activities this year, we pay tribute to his distinguished service and extend our warmest wishes for his continued success in the years ahead. 

We are more determined than ever to carry forward our shared mission: strengthening economic resilience, deepening regional financial integration, and fostering sustainable growth across the Asia-Pacific.

I look forward to returning to Bangkok in October to witness these ABAC seeds bear fruit — turning a financial milestone for Thailand into a catalyst for the long-term prosperity of the entire Asia-Pacific.

Mitsuhiro Furusawa is the Chair of the ABAC Finance and Economics Task Force, or FETF, and a former Deputy Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund.