Thailand forms regional links

The information and communication technology industries in Thailand, Malaysia, Vietnam, Bangladesh and Burma have forged a formal link to encourage business collaboration and cross-border trade.

The arrangement, coming in the form of a memorandum of understanding between the Association of Thai Information and Communication Technology Industry (ATCI) and the ICT associations of the other four countries, is expected to help Thailand's ICT industries to expand across the Asia-Oceania region.

The memorandum covers a period of two years. As well as the Thai association, the other signatories are Bangladesh Computer Samity, the Association of the Computer and Multimedia Industry of Malaysia, the Myanmar Computer Federation and the Vietnam Software Association.

This collaboration is a move by the Asian-Oceanian Computing Industry Organisation (ASOCIO) to strengthen the ICT and real-sector industries of its member countries.

ATCI president Bunrak Saraggananda said the business engagement was supported by industry associations in each country.

"It is not only to create relationships between the firms [in each country] but also to create stronger relationships between the associations," he said.

The associations plan to encourage private companies in their ICT industries to more regularly take part in activities such as conferences, exhibitions, business matching and seminars. 

Already, during a Bangkok Business Visit Programme last week, the local association arranged business partners from ASOCIO member countries for five Thai firms.

"Five Thai companies, including Magic Software Thailand (MST), GlobalWeb, NetBay, ACT and Advance Application Service Provider, are now engaged with five companies from four neighbouring countries," Bunrak said.

Further business matching arrangements involving the association's members are expected during trade visits to nearby countries. The partnerships will allow collaboration in research and development by sharing and exchanging projects involving best ICT practices.

He said that in creating the partnerships, the association had in mind four of the best-practices projects of Thai companies, including NetBay's e-logistic g ateway, Summit Computer's individual income tax system, MFEC's stock trading system and MST's Internet and mobile payment gateway.

The moves will help these firms to expand their markets into other countries instead of serving only the domestic market, which is affected by the economic downturn and is offering only slight growth this year.

"With strong relationships among ASOCIO members, we hope we can help the Thai ICT industry to expand throughout the region, especially into nearby countries. For example, the ICT industry in Bangladesh has grown by 50 per cent this year, while that in Thailand has grown by only 5 per cent. There are a lot of opportunities out there, and enabling Thai companies to take them efficiently is our role," Bunrak said.

As well, the ATCI is planning to increase its membership. At present, it represents 120 member companies that together make up 80 per cent of the value of Thailand's ICT industry. It is aiming to lift that membership to 200 by the end of this year.

ASOCIO secretary-general Lucas Lim said the new collaboration was an "initial concrete move" by his organisation. It planned to encourage more such collaboration among its 21 member countries, which had a combined force of more than 10,000 ICT companies contributing to an ICT market in the Asia-Oceania region valued at about US$300 billion (Bt10.2 trillion).

Meanwhile, the organisation is compiling a report detailing the ICT scenario in all of its member countries, including convergence technologies, IT enterprise systems, business process outsourcing (BPO), green IT, electronic government and IT workforces.

"We hope the report will affect the whole industry in the region, by giving an entire, real picture of the region's ICT situation. The report will also make suggestions to governments in member countries about driving their ICT industries forward by giving them the current status of industries of other countries. We will try to provide a map to government bodies so they can understand and invest more in this industry, in order not only to drive the ICT industry itself, but also to help accelerate the real business sectors in their countries," Lim said.