(DRAFT) Minutes of the JFCCT Presidents Council Meeting Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, 21 September 2016 Eastin Grand Hotel

Transcription

1 1 of 13 Participants (DRAFT) Minutes of the JFCCT Presidents Council Meeting Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce Wednesday, 21 September 2016 Eastin Grand Hotel 1. H.E. Mr. Uffe Wolffhechel Ambassador, of Denmark Embassy in Thailand 2. Mr. Peter Sand Trade Counselor (Commercial) 3. Mr. Piyabutr Cholvijarn The Board of Trade 4. Mr. Stanley Kang JFCCT Chairman 5. Mr. Phongsakdi Chakshuvej JFCCT Vice Chairman 6. Dr. Kongkiti Phusavat JFCCT, Education and Skills Committee Chairman 7. Mr. Bob Fox JFCCT, ICT Committee Chairman 8. Mr. Nu To Van JFCCT, International Trade Committee Chairman 9. Mr. Willem Niemeijer JFCCT, Tourism Committee Chairman 10. Mr. John Casella JFCCT Honorary Treasurer 11. Mr. Paris Kouyoumdijan Armenian Thai Chamber of Commerce 12. Dr. Sutharm Valaisathien BeLu Thai Chamber of Commerce 13. Mr. Ron Livingston Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce 14. Mr. Thomas Nyborg Danish Thai Chamber of Commerce 15. Dr. Supareak Charlie Chomchan Danish Thai Chamber of Commerce 16. Mr. Simon Scheibel Danish Thai Chamber of Commerce 17. Mr. Sophie Edelgren Danish Thai Chamber of Commerce 18. Mr. Pornpracha Wattanakijsiri Thai-Finnish Chamber of Commerce 19. Mr. Karri Kivelä Thai-Finnish Chamber of Commerce 20. Mr. Alexandre Dupont Franco-Thai Chamber of Commerce 21. Mr. Danny Yu Thai-Hong Kong Trade Association 22. Mr. Suphat Sivasriaumphai India Thai Chamber of Commerce 23. Mr. Paul Scales Irish-Thai Chamber of Commerce 24. Mr. Yuttapoom Doolyabhandit Thai Israel Chamber of Commerce 25. Mr. Andrea Gallucci Thai Italian Chamber of Commerce 26. Mr. Lee Man Jae Korean Thai Chamber of Commerce 27. Mr. Vanchai Jiratritran Thai International Christian Chamber of Commerce 28. Ms. Vibeke Lyssand Leirvag Thai Norwegian Chamber of Commerce 29. Mr. Firdos Ali Khan Thai Pakistan Chamber of Commerce 30. Dr. Sombat Thiratrakoolchai Thai-Russian Chamber of Commerce 31. Mr. Darwin Yang Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce 32. Mr. Ragil Ratnam South African Thai Chamber of Commerce 33. Mr. Sisira Mendis Thai Sri Lanka Chamber of Commerce 34. Mr. Bruno G. Odermatt Swiss-Thai Chamber of Commerce 35. Mr. Abdullah Sabri Tok Thai- Turkish Chamber of Commerce 36. Mr. Alan Su Thai-Taiwan Business Association 37. Mr. Herbert B. Silver Thai-Taiwan Business Association 38. Mr. Rolf-Dieter Daniel EABC (Observer) 39. Mr. Thanyarat Chatthanaphaksiri The Board of Trade 40. Ms. Noppamas Punchanhom JFCCT 41. Ms. Wanlapa Yamapai JFCCT 42. Ms. Atcharapoun Thiensri Personal Assistant to Chairman 1

2 2 of 13 Apologies: 1. JFCCT Vice Chairman, Marc Spiegel 2. JFCCT, SME Committee Chairman 3. Thai-Chinese Chamber of Commerce 4. Estonian Thai Chamber of Commerce 5. Japanese Thai Chamber of Commerce 6. Netherlands Thai Chamber of Commerce 7. Mexican Thai Chamber of Commerce 8. Malaysian-Thai Chamber of Commerce 9. New Zealand Thai Chamber of Commerce 10. Thai Swedish Chamber of Commerce The meeting starts at 12:25 hrs. Mr. Thomas Nyborg, President of the Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce welcomed all participants to the meeting and introduced the new Ambassador of the Denmark Embassy in Thailand H.E. Mr. Uffe Wolffhechel to give a speech. For his speech he gave an overview on diplomatic, business and economic partnership between Denmark and Thailand. Then he passed the chair to Mr. Stanley Kang, JFCCT Chairman. First of all, the chairman welcomed the new faces from Singapore-Thai Chamber of Commerce Mr. Darwin Yang. The meeting then turned to its agenda. Agenda Item I Approval of the Minutes of the Presidents Council Meeting held on Wednesday, 17 August 2016 The minutes had been sent out prior to the meeting and the chairman asked for any comments or otherwise for approval. Then the minutes were approved. Agenda Item II Update from Committees Education and Skills Committee Dr. Kongkiti Phusavat, Chairman of the Education and Skills Committee provided an updated as following. He thanked the Danish Embassy for sponsorship the project in Kora. Following the update of the Education and Skills committee meeting of the past two month. The committee roles have been decided to disseminate knowledge and relevant finding for the Education and Skills to the general public and the JFCCT members. eg. providing the fact that ICT alone will not improve education unless change. For the second role that the committee have define together on which what you want to develop and relevant to support the initiative. 2

3 3 of 13 ICT Mr Bob Fox, Chairman of the ICT Committee spoke to a one page hard copy handout. Spectrum issuance; special deals and the lack of consistency; SOE development Due to special deals done for the SOEs in the industry and the lack of a consistent, arms length licensing model, special and ad hoc deals on spectrum and other asset usage continue to be necessary throughout the telecoms industry. A long term reform plan is needed. Changes to the Trade Competition Act regime do not appear likely to make an impact. There is a useful summary of the changes to general competition law based on a presentation arranged by EABC on 25 July materials available. These will not impact telecoms materially or at all. This is a gap. MICT has announced some changes to the roles of the SOEs without merger them or full reform. We continue to recommend deep reforms, consistent with global practice in the industry. SOEs will continue with artificial income; the structure continues to be an impediment to an efficient sector. World Bank has provided an SOE reform toolkit, which could be very useful. E Commerce The e Payments regime is likely to make a positive contribution to development of Thailand s ecommerce sector and also provide support for FinTech. Better Digital Signature development is still needed and some other areas need reviewing. Engagement in this area shows strong interest. K Korn (former finance minister and Democrat policy strategist) is chairman of the FinTech Club. IT Start Ups continue as an area of focus. There are some positive developments in availability of finance, but as with SME, the administrative overhead due to out of date and cumbsersome regulation continues to be the main stumbling block. Digital Economy laws MICT is changing to Ministry of Digital Economy and Society, usually referred to as Ministry of Digital Economy. A Digital Economy Committee will have enormous powers and the regulator NBTC a diminished role. Dr Uttama Minister of ICT is stepping down; an interim minister takes the role and some longer term candidates have been mentioned. Overall we continue to push for a TRUSTED INTERNET as a business tool and to underpin an intelligent society. The new Cybersecurity law and amendments to the Computer Crimes Act will, unless changed, caused problems for trust in the sector. A meeting with the interim Minister is sought; the ICT group continues dialogue with various local, regional and global bodies. Work Permit and Visa laws and policy were discussed again at the most recent ICT meeting. The matter will be taken up under Agenda item 5. Licence Facilitation Act ICT have made written submissions 4 July and later at the 17 August Presidents Council meeting. A workshop is hoped for. This item appears elsewhere on the Agenda and will be taken up there. Plan for mandatory trackable SIMs for foreigners/ Tourist SIM : ICT group has done draft submission; Tourism Committee concurs; covers both trackable and Tourist SIM proposals; submitting imminent. 3

4 4 of 13 Access to laws Thailand has a very poor system of access to draft laws, and tracking updated draft releases. Updated draft laws are usually bear no release date or version number and do not show changes over the previous version. All this has an impact on the Rule of Law because understanding of the law is lessened, the opportunity for lack of clarity (and thus selective enforcement) is higher and industry buy-in is lessened. A proposal has been made for a project on this. Meetings Most recent 21 September; mid October Participation welcome International Trade Mr. Nu To Van, Chairman of the International Trade Committee provided an updated as following During the previous Presidents Council meeting which we informed that the International Trade committee met the Department of Foreign Trade/ MoC on Thursday 18 th August 2016 to talk about the new regulations and the Export control items. Particularly the regulations is going to be in force on first of January He mentioned to the handout which it was the presentation from the Director of DFT/MoC. The key point to discuss with the Department of Foreign Trade particularly on the enforcement agency of the export control regulations which is going to be the Thai custom department. The International Trade committee plan to make appointment with the Department of Foreign Trade at the end of this year to get an update on the status of the regulations. Mr. Paul Scales the president of the Irish-Thai chamber of commerce concerned on the role between the relation of Thailand and Great Britain following britax as the British chamber didn t participate on the forum he wondered either EABC or some revenue could be provided an update on the regular basis on the potential free trade agreement between Thailand and UK. Mr. Nu To Van will include this topic to the international Trade committee meeting next month. Tourism Mr. Willem Niemeijer, the Tourism committee chairman provided an update as following. The Tourism committee met on Tuesday 13 th September The numbers of participants to the meeting were quite limited. The chairman provided the update on the presentation of the U Sheraton and ATTA on the Tourism statistics for 15 major nationalities as tourism arrival on 10 September 2016 which was more related to the JFCCT. The committee would like to hear more inputs related to tourism he asked for more recommendations or the fresh topic discussion to get more committee members from other chambers. SME The chairman invited Dr. Supareak Charlie Chomchan, on behalf of SME Committee chairman provided an update as following. 4

5 5 of 13 The SME committee met on 15th September at Regus Office at Sathorn Square on the following matters: 1) Presentation on SME overview by OSMEP with Q&A Dr Wimonkan, Deputy Director General of OSMEP (Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion), presented an overview of the agency's role what touched some of the existing programmes to help SMEs. OSMEP being the key organization which functions directly under the Prime Minister, is responsible for dispersing funds to various agencies and organizations in-volved in the promotion and development of SMEs in Thailand. The SME committee gained further insights on the agency's role which could prove useful in planning for future events and activities. 2) Proposed Seminar on SME: co-organised by OSMEP, JFCCT and Stamford University. The committee will consider co-organizing a SME talk for members of all chambers to better understand about the situations with SMEs in Thailand and about the initiatives. To make this event interesting, each of the co-organizers will each propose the topics, speakers, and the proposed formats of the event for discussion at the next SME meeting. 3) Update on EAP seminar for school on 17th or 18th October at Stamford University The proposed dates were submitted to BMA and the schools but we have not yet received any confirmation. We can proceed with the arrangements with Stamford University given that there is sufficient lead time to make the necessary preparations, otherwise a future date will have to be arranged. This event is a joint effort with the JFCCT Education Committee. 4) Update on the Proposed Talk on "alternative funding" Given that some of these alternative funding platforms operates in "grey" unregulated areas, like in "Peer to Peer lending", the committee took the position that the talk should only be to inform the audience of the various development in the market and the speakers should not use the event to promote their businesses. It was also suggested that Bank of Thailand officials be invited to a panel discussion to add to the dimension. With these extended scope, the committee request David Shelters, member of New Zealand Thai Chamber of Commerce, to submit agenda with proposed speakers at the next meeting for discussion. 5) Update on the nomination of women entrepreneurs for the Cherie Blair foundation mentoring programme. OSMEP assisted in helping to identify and nominate women entrepreneurs for this mentoring programme and although they have received 5 interested nominees, so far only 2 have submitted their details online. They will follow up on this matter and requested if the deadline can be extended till 30th September. We will make the request for the extension and meanwhile and hope to be able to get 10 women entrepreneurs enrolled by then. The next meeting is scheduled for Tuesday 18th October 2016, 10:00am at Regus Offices, Sathorn Square, Bangkok. Agenda Item III JFCCT Book The chairman invited Ms. Vibeke to provide an update on the JFCCT book publishing process. First of all, she thanked all presidents and sponsors for the patience; the project continued to take a lot longer than ever expected There re a lot of contribution from earlier times which was described in the previous meeting;. Unfortunately, the current timetable would be to postpone to print at the end of this month or the beginning of next month. Moreover, it would be a great opportunity to get the book launch and give to attendees at the Prime Minister Address

6 6 of 13 Agenda Item IV Prime Minister s Address The Chairman informed all presidents that JFCCT planned to organize the Prime Minister s Address 2016 A letter has been sent to the Office of Prime Minister last week and now we re waiting for the confirmation date. The event proposed at the end of November or the beginning of December. The working team is working on the fresh issue topics and the format, which may be different to prior years. Moreover, we planned to arrange the meeting with the Secretary of Prime Minister. Furthermore, the chairman asked for support from all presidents and all chambers and staffs who can assist on this annual event. Agenda Item V Work Permit and Visa The Chairman invited Mr. Bob Fox, JFCCT ICT chairman to provide an update. JFCCT has long standing, published policy recommendations, which are on the JFCCT website also. Broadly, there are two categories. First, it s about people who need to be in Thailand to work; who are local employees and need to work in Thailand. They are in the generally accepted definition of the word work. The second category are business visitors who have no intention or need to take up local employment and are not resident in Thailand. They come to Thailand to do various business related activities which could include attending meetings, seminars or having business discussions. They do not seek local employment. In the generally understood definition they are not working however under the very broad definition of work in Thai law in many cases they would need a work permit. This issue continues to impact all of us directly. For example, the Dept of Employment has just reconfirmed that a foreign director of a Thai company may not sign accounts (financial statements) at a board meeting unless he has a work permit, and that defect vitiates (undoes the validity of) the accounts. The workarounds proposed are very cumbersome and add to ;doing business overhead. This flies against the very purpose of IHQ policies which are to encourage regional and international headquarters to be established in Thailand, which means that people not usually working here in Thailand need to come and carry out various business activities. This impacted business visitors and also local companies having to deal with the situation. It was not really a matter of inconvenience but included higher difficulty of doing business, but the real issue was the economic harm which this unnecessary situation continued to cause. When the JFCCT Book comes out, some history will be seen that this law had its origins in 1972 (44 years ago) during a crack-down on foreign engagement. Times have changed but the law has not kept up. Mr Fox referred to the minutes of the August meeting (pp 7-8) which showed the shortcomings if relying on the re-interpretations issued by Dept of Employment in March 2015 with the clarifications on the left hand side of the table, but these had raised more questions (see right hand side of table) than they had answered. 6

7 7 of 13 Some of these have been clarified (as noted) to the effect that they are activities which are work, thus the broad statement being Attendance at meetings.. where board meetings are an example used, is very misleading when at least one ordinary and normal activity of attending board meetings is specifically not allowed. Thus it continued to be necessary to change the law. It was noted that one effective way to do this was to focus on the definition of a business person or business visitor, a concept borrowed from APEC which Thailand had already agreed to. Referring again to the previous minutes, it was noted that allowing business visitors on the basis outlined would Recognise business activity which will override any residual restrictions from the definition of work A Business Person is someone seeking temporary entry into the Kingdom for business activity that is international or transborder in some material way, and not seeking employment or residence in the Kingdom. Their primary source of remuneration, principal place of business, and predominant place of accrual of profits remain outside the Kingdom. They may seek entry for the purpose of: a) Conducting, arranging, organising or attending conferences, seminars, lectures or workshops and participating in any capacity; b) negotiating, proposing or setting up the sale of services or goods where such negotiations do not themselves involve direct sales to the general public (although that may be part of the later intended business enterprise) but may involve sales of samples 7

8 8 of 13 c) Activities to set up businesses of any kind and related activities such as raising funds for investment or arranging representation, marketing or distribution agreements d) Attending board or management meetings and participating in any capacity. e) Doing any other act, matter or thing incidental or related to any of these things. A Business Person validly carrying out any such activity shall not require any work permit. In the event of any inconsistency between this law and the Foreign Employment Act [or other law purporting to define work] this law shall prevail. The language would need checking of course, but this was proposed, either on a business visa (which could be VoA) or no visa basis. A further meeting to discuss the matter had been sought with Mr Surong Bulakul of the Board of Trade (as agreed at the August meeting) but he had indicated that someone else would be taking over the conduct of the matter. Mr Piyabutr Cholvijarn noted that the Board of Trade proposal had been accepted by at least one ministry. Mr Fox said that this was a very good development in so far as the proposed changes for those locally employed and working locally were concerned, but the Board of Trade proposal had no plan to change the law to deal with the business visitors issue. After some discussion, Mr Piyabutr noted that the law would have to be be changed to meet that objective. It was agreed to pursue the matter on the basis of recognising and supporting the activities of a business person, as proposed. Agenda Item VI Licence Facilitation Act In the absence of Professor Kongkiti, the Chairman invited Mr. Bob Fox, JFCCT ICT chairman to provide an update. Mr Fox noted the very useful information provided by Khun Natta at the August Presidents Council meeting. ICT Group had provided a written submission on the matter and some recommendations for changes, including having an egov (ie on line) target. It was agreed to hold a workshop. The chairman informed that there will be a workshop in October as the OPDC have a new Director General, we will make a courtesy visit to OPDC office the first week of October for introduction and to find some dates for a workshop.. 8

9 9 of 13 Agenda Item VII 90 day reporting/ re-entry reporting The Chairman invited Mr. Bob Fox, JFCCT ICT chairman to provide an update. Mr. Fox noted the increased use of the new form with additional information sought. He also noted that some had observed that the form seemed not to be official. He recognized and thanked the Danish-Thai Chamber of Commerce for its newsletter which described the apparent lack of official look and feel and information on the form. DTCC has made some suggestions for those who might be in situations where they would feel compelled to complete the form, including providing social media used, bank account details, places frequented etc. Both JFCCT and EABC has made written submissions on the form in April. Mr Rolf-Dieter Daniel, president of EABC, noted that, following a meeting with Deputy PM, EABC had received a reply saying that it was likely that some parts of the form would be treated as optional while others would be mandatory, not the result sought but it may be a step in the right direction. It was noted that it would depend on what was mandatory, already social media information was optional. The form received negative comments as troublesome in terms of doing business as being very intrusive and the additional information probably not being helpful overall. Agenda Item VIII Review of the JFCCT Account Status & Consideration of New Bank Account for JFCCT Funds The Chairman invited Mr. John Casella, JFCCT Honorary Treasurer to provide an update. Mr. Casella reminded the Presidents Council of prior discussions about the need to open a bank account in JFCCT name and style. He proposed to consider and approve the opening of a new savings and current bank account with joint co-signatories of both JFCCT and Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce (TCCC). The Presidents Council of the Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce in Thailand considered and approved the opening of a new savings and current bank account with joint co-signatories, with one signature required from representatives of the Joint Foreign Chamber of Commerce in Thailand, and one from the Thai-Canadian Chamber of Commerce. A summary report of JFCCT account status was tabled as shown. JFCCT's Account Status (in THB) as at 31 August 2016 JFCCT Presidents' Council Meeting (date: 21st September 2016) Statement of Assets, Liabilities and Fund Balance Assets: 31-Aug Dec-15 Cash on hand 25, , Cash in bank 883, ,119, Cash held with CanCham dedicated a/c 823,

10 10 of 13 Accounts Receivable 777, , Equipment 33, , Accum. Depreciation - Equipment (1,067.84) (126.81) Computer 23, , Accum. Depreciation - Computer (7,923.81) (1,334.99) Withholding Tax Receivable Total Assets 2,558, ,669, Liabilities: Accrued salaries & secretarial support - - Funds raised for charitable purposes 72, , Total Liabilities 72, , Fund Balance: Surplus brought forward 1,597, ,499, Surplus funds from current period 888, , Surplus carried forward 2,486, ,597, Total Liabilities and Fund Balance 2,558, ,669, Statement of Revenues and Expenses 8 months 12 months Revenues Jan - Aug 2016 Jan - Dec 2015 Members fees & contributions 775, , JFCCT Forum 63, Executive Sponsorship JFCCT Directory 950, Tickets for PM Luncheon Address - 1,476, Bank interest income 3, , Other income , Total Revenues 1,791, ,261, Expenses Secretarial support 662, ,189, Administrative Expenses 42, , Allowance for bad debt Write-off of bad debt - 75, Expenses for PM Luncheon Address - 803, JFCCT Reunion 55, JFCCT Forum 125, JFCCT Directory 17, Total Expenses 902, ,163, Surplus/(Deficit) for the period 888, ,

11 11 of 13 JFCCT's Account Status (in THB) as at 31 August 2016 JFCCT Presidents' Council Meeting (date: 21st September 2016) Cash Flow Statement, 1 January to 31 August 2016: Opening Cash Funds, 1 January ,119, Add: Membership fees Y members paid 200, Membership fees Y members paid 25, Membership fees Y members paid (Korea & Mexico) 50, PM's Luncheon Address Y tickets 262, Other income and interest 3, Less: Expenditures (1 Jan - 31 Aug 2016) (775,917.50) Closing Cash Balance, 31 August , Cash held by CanCham dedicated a/c: Opening Cash Funds, 1 January Add: Executive Sponsorship - JFCCT Directory 900, JFCCT Forum 60, Less: Expenditures (1 Jan - 31 Aug 2016) (136,820.00) Closing Cash Balance, 31 August , Accounts Receivable: Opening Accounts Receivable Balance, 1 January , Add Membership fees Y2016 (31 members) 775, JFCCT Forum 2, Executive Sponsorship 950, Less Collections: Membership Fees 2015 (8 members paid) (200,000.00) Membership Fees Y2014 (1 members paid) (25,000.00) Membership Fees Y2016 (2 members paid) (50,000.00) Executive Sponsorship (900,000.00) Ending balance of member fees, 31 August , Less Collections: PM's Luncheon Address Y2015 (114 tickets) (262,100.00) Closing Accounts Receivable Balance, 31 August , Details of Account Receivable as at 31 August 2016 Under paid PM Tickets owing Unpaid Membership Fees - Y2016 (29 members) 725, Unpaid Executive Sponsorship 50, Unpaid no-show fees - JFCCT Forum 2, Total Accounts 31 August ,

12 12 of 13 Agenda Item IX Cooperation with the Board of Trade The chairman invited Mr. Piyabutr to update the meeting as following. Mr. Piyabutr reminded all Presidents and Executive Directors to join the Get Together Partnership 2016 on Wednesday 21 st September 2016 at Plaza Athénée Le Meridian Bangkok. Agenda Item X Other Business JFCCT as a Legal Entity Mr. Phongsakdi Chakshuvej conveyed message from the Chairman for comments from the meeting on JFCCT status as follow. In occasion, JFCCT is celebrating its 40 th year anniversary recently and has been well-known by the public and private sectors, the chairman would like to see in a long term, JFCCT to be more sustainable, transparent and independent. First step, with support from CANCHAM on financial auditable, we would like to see JFCCT as a legal entity of some kind. Dr. Sutharm Valaisathien, President of the BeLu-Thai Chamber of Commerce advised that of all the possible options, the most suitable would be JFCCT as Business Association is an optimal way. He asked comments from the meeting on the proposal we will have by law legal binding which would make it easier for accounting and staff employment, and other external relations Some chambers previously would rather prefer JFCCT to remain informal way rather than proper registration form but it was 20 years ago now we become larger and many chambers being register would join JFCCT so if JFCCT has legal structure would be more appropriate. For the bank account, JFCCT could have its own bank account name rather than being managed by other entity if JFCCT becomes a juristic person which would be more appropriate and easier to manage externally. A Business Association would need a board of directors. Ms. Vibeke said that it would be more difficult for JFCCT chairman to be in the public as JFCCT more larger and stronger organization she suggested putting details in a written proposal and send to all Presidents to discuss with their Board members and perhaps make decision in the next meeting. Mr. Paul Scales, President of Irish - Thai Chamber of Commerce noted that if an Association is formed, it would impact the JFCCT charter. The chairman asked Mr Fox (who had been involved with the development of the Charter) what this would mean. Mr Fox said that in his observation many supported the Charter, making a business association would need By Laws etc and a decision on how a board would be formed. But some 12

13 13 of 13 means could be looked at to retain the terms of the Charter as an operating set of rules for example which could perhaps be incorporated by reference into the By Laws. This could be looked at. The chairman said the process may take us 1 year time or more by that time he may finish his term but for the future of JFCCT and next chairman could have a proper way to move forward we should start doing this. He will ask working team to draft a letter to all Presidents and if the Presidents agreed we will set up working team to review the process. Elite+ magazine 2 nd Anniversary The chairman informed that the Elite+ magazine invited all Presidents to their 2 nd Anniversary on Wed. 28 th September at 17:30 21:00 hrs. at Chatrium Riverside Hotel, there will be a dinner talk by Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, former ASEAN Secretary General and the President Chairman of the Future Innovative Thailand Institute (FIT) to give an address on BREXIT, the lessons learnt towards sustainable growth for the AEC. Invitation will be circulated to all Presidents ASAP. Mr. Nu To Van, Chairman of the International Trade committee thanked the Danish Thai Chamber of Commerce for hosting luncheon and H.E. Ambassador for joining the luncheon. The meeting adjourned at 14:15 hrs. Draft-b 13