On 9 October 2020, TICA delegation led by Ms.Pattarat Hongtong, Director-General, met with Executives of the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) led by Mr. Veerapong Malai, Director-General along with Ms. Wimonkan Kosumas, Deputy Director-General, Mr. Wittawat Lamsam, Department Director of International Cooperation at OSMEP, to discuss potential partnerships on development cooperation.

The meeting was aimed at exploring areas and modality of the said partnerships based on OSMEP’s expertise in upgrading and promoting SMEs in Thailand, enabling their competitiveness and sustained growth.

Both sides acknowledged and emphasised the importance of SMEs and MSMEs as a key driver of economic recovery during the post COVID-19 era as well as mutual benefits of Thailand and neighbouring ASEAN countries. Potential cooperation could be implemented in forms of development cooperation. These may include business networking and workshops for entrepreneurs from Thailand and neighbouring countries; development projects in partner countries; short training courses on SMEs and related issues under TICA’s Annual International Training Course (AITC) programme.