Khun Prasert Bunsumpun, Chairman of the Independent Directors, PTT Global Chemical PCL and the New S-Curve working team’s leader of the private sector organizations, and Khun Supattanapong Punmeechaow, President and Chief Executive Officer, PTT Global Chemical PCL, were invited to participate in the EEC Strategy seminar, hosted by Krungthep Turakij newspaper on March 17, 2017 at Conrad Hotel, Bangkok.

The rationale behind ‘EEC Strategy: Thailand Competitive Transformation’ is to articulate the nation’s strategic direction by way of encouraging economic and social development in a comprehensive manner in collaboration with all participating sectors, with the aim of enhancing competitive advantages of the nation while improving quality of lives and sustainably developing the localities as part of Thailand 4.0 initiative, comprising of 4 major dimensions 1) development of human resources to groom capabilities of Thai people to compete in an international arena 2) educational reform and adjustment of thinking, practices, technology, machinery and innovation 3) enhancement of technology to enable targeted industries to create value-added features as well as to groom Thai entrepreneurs (start-up, spring-up all the way to step-up) towards Thailand 4.0 and 4) development of infrastructure such as train, airplanes, highways, etc.

In this regard, PTT Group foresees opportunities for further development of the Eastern Seaboard that was initiated over 30 years ago. The investment capital at the time was 2 trillion Baht, however investment activities have been put to a halt for 10 years. From this, we will be uplifting the 5 existing targeted industries to 5 new industries by encouraging continuous investment activities. PTTGC is ready to invest in 2 large-scale projects with the investment capital of 80,000-100,000 million Baht within 3 years’ time in order to expand production capacity, change raw materials to yield by-products that enable further technological development towards robotics, electric vehicle industry and manufacturing of special type of plastic that is strong, durable and of high quality. From PTTGC’s strong belief in potential benefits, success and confidence in the EEC project, the Company went on a roadshow to invite investors and owners of technology in Japan to invest in Thailand to drive economic growth.

Furthermore, Khun Supattanapong also mentioned that “PTT Group has always been asking a question of ‘3 Why’, featuring Why Thailand, Why EEC and Why 5 Industries. Throughout the past 30 years, we have always believed in Thailand’s potential and we must take the courage to invest and develop. We want to see the EEC as an inclusive growth mechanism that yields benefits to both entrepreneurs and the communities. We should utilize lessons learned in the past to solve potential problems in the future and make the communities healthy and viable. In so doing, we shall not wait until everything is ready on the government’s side, but we should be courageous to invest. Besides, we should encourage citizens to grow together as the EEC grows and prospers, with an emphasis on encouraging innovation and PTT Group is at the forefront of driving innovation for the development of the nation.”