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Although concerns were varied, the fundamentals were the same: how can the country best promote efficiency and human-resource productivity to offset natural resources that are fading fast?

The process should start now. Kosit Panpiemras, executive chairman of the Bangkok Bank, said we should, for instance, start to really think about how to promote the education of the young and improve the way they learn, otherwise they would be unable to compete with countries that were already striving for higher productivity and efficiency amid declining resources. Though the NESDB's plan aims primarily to promote social and economic progress, the crucial element is human resources. Interestingly, a number of participants on Friday said they were worried that a failure to develop popular political consciousness would leave Thai politics a prey to the moneyed interest. They stressed that human-resources development should not be entirely economic or indeed social in focus but also teach and encourage ordinary people to take part in the political process.