While the country waits for an interim government, businessmen say they want the temporary economic advisers chosen by the coup leaders to restructure government economic agencies to function along the lines of those under the Office of the US Trade Representative (USTR).

Pornsilp Patcharintanakul, deputy secretary of the Board of Trade of Thailand, said the Trade Negotiations Department, the Thai Trade Representatives Office, the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards, and the Thai Industrial Standards Institute needed to be restructured.

The responsibilities of these organisations are unclear, he said, and both Thai and foreign businessmen are confused as to which agencies they should contact.

Pornsilp wants the agencies to be restructured in the same form as those overseen by the USTR, which he said made it clear exactly whom businessmen need to contact for any given operation.

He added that the chamber had proposed a string of suggestions to the administration to ensure its economic policies encouraged the country's economic growth.

The chamber's annual meeting is being held in Nakhon Ratchasima from November

10-12.

More than 200 representatives from all 76 provinces will attend.

The agenda will include how to develop a self-sufficient economy, how to drive Thai competitiveness in the context of globalisation and cooperation on provincial economic development

The Thai Chamber of Commerce forecasts a stronger economy next year, despite the interim government. Members are calling for a government focused on the country's economic development, creating clear policies to boost trade and investment.

Economists predict the economy will grow by 4.5 per cent this year.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation