Speaking yesterday at a seminar entitled "The Asean Economic Community (AEC): Challenging Steps or Imagination", Krirk-krai said Asean would merge into a single market in eight years.

"Manufacturers from small to large scale need to improve production efficiency, in order to ensure competitiveness among Asean members and also with other countries," he said.

Sectors that should be urgently developed include food, automobiles, electronic goods, tourism and services. Asean members have agreed to move their integration goal forward from 2020 to 2015. Under the scheme, import tariffs for most goods and services will also be abolished.

Krirk-krai said Thai manufacturers and entrepreneurs must develop their production and use the opportunity to get the maximum benefit from liberalised trade.

"Enterprises should also focus more on the Asean market, as that market is much larger than Thailand's," he said. A Commerce Ministry report said Thai exports to Asean accounted for 7-8 per cent of the Kingdom's total exports in the past 10 years. However, last year, that figure rose to 25 per cent of total export value.

Asean's population of 550 million makes for a bigger market, compared with 65 million people in Thailand. This market could be a chance for Thai manufacturers and enterprises to increase sales and cooperate in creating new technology, he said.

Petchanet Pratruangkrai

The Nation