Moving the AEC Beyond 2015: Managing Domestic Economic Interests in Thailand

The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is Thailand’s current priority and the AEC Blueprint is being progressively implemented in the country. However, different domestic economic interests have contributed to the slow pace of implementation. Three case studies — the agricultural sector, the logistics industry, and the mobility of medical professionals — are used to illustrate this. To move the AEC beyond 2015 and to enhance consensus-building during the community-building process, this paper puts forth the following policy recommendations: (i) the Thai government should enhance awareness of the community-building process and convey more details about the AEC to stakeholders and the general public; (ii) closer consultation and more integrated relationships between the government and stakeholders should be fostered; (iii) the government should formulate policies to improve the competitiveness of the affected stakeholders and industries to reduce the adverse impact from the AEC.