VietNamNet Bridge - Thailand Management Association (TMA), in cooperation with the Board of Trade of  Thailand held the ASEAN  Business  Forum  2015: Creating  Value  through  ASEAN  Connectivity”  on October  14-15,  2015 in  Bangkok,  Thailand.  

The forum, the sixth of its kind since 2009, aimed to bring together regional and global executives to discuss key issues and to promote mutual understanding and cooperation within the region.

The  program  was  outlined  to  focus  on  the  opportunities, challenges  and  limitations  in  redesigning  intra-ASEAN and  extra-ASEAN Value Chains following the ASEAN integration, leading up to the realization of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) at the end of 2015.

Visit Tantisuntorn, Chairman of TMA, said at ASEAN Business Forum 2015 that the forming of ASEAN Economic Community by the end of this year will create business challenges and opportunities. 

So, ASEAN countries need to collaborate with their neighbor to drive the region's growth and enhance competitiveness. Building a value chain to link various key industries such as tourism, food and energy will move forward the economy growth of ASEAN sustainably.

Nithi Pattarachoke, managing director of SCG Logistics Management, said companies should look beyond physical connectivity as there were a lot of things challenging them, especially human capital, technology and equipment. 

The most difficult part of doing business across the region is developing human resources, as few of the company's workers want to work outside the country.

"If the ASEAN countries become one, then transport will become important to them," Transport Minister Arkhom Termpittayapaisith said.

As a keynote speaker on " ASEAN Physical Connectivity: A Key to Regional Integration", Arkhom said all ASEAN countries should think of how to stay together amid the new normal of slowing economic growth. 

Those countries should help create more value in terms of getting connectivity within the region for the sake of their economies. Both terrestrial and marine transport systems are the key to regional integration. 

Many projects are under study and development such as the double-track railway systems to be lined up along the economic corridor linking China's southern areas with Malaysia and Singapore via Thailand, and the corridor that will connect Myanmar with Vietnam via Thailand and Laos.

Duy Anh