Participants cheer during a group photo at the Thailand Business Forum.
The government, private sector and development partners came together at the Thailand Business Forum held at Banyan Tree Hotel, Bangkok, on 29 September 2016 to showcase the private sector’s experience and initiatives related to disaster and climate resilience and how these efforts can be improved upon in the future.
The iPrepare Business facility of ADPC organized the forum as part of its ongoing regional project on Strengthening Disaster Resilience of Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) in Asia.
More than 80 participants from key ministries and planning agencies including the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), Office for Small and Medium Enterprise Promotion (OSMEP), Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation (DDPM), development partners, as well as private sector organizations, such as the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), Thai Chamber of Commerce and Board of Trade of Thailand, SMEs and large corporations attended the event.
The forum recalled the devastating impacts of 2011 floods in Thailand and highlighted the importance of keeping the memories alive. During the opening session, Mr. Chen Namchaisiri, Chairman of FTI reiterated that, “the great flood of 2011 was indeed the turning point for the public and private sectors in Thailand to shift from a reactive to more proactive approach in disaster preparedness and mitigation in order to strengthen the SME business resilience.”
The forum provided a platform to exchange and reflect on the experience of developing the business continuity plan under the “Thailand Resilient SME Champions Program” part of the iPrepare Business regional project, as well as under a pilot project on Area Business Continuity Management in Bankadi Industrial Park, funded by the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA).
Mr. Chen Namchaisiri, Chairman of Federation of Thai Industries, delivering the keynote speech during the event.
The forum also discussed the vision for resilient investments in the private sector, which provided strategic directions for future engagement by key stakeholders to create a more enabling environment for business continuity and risk-informed investments.
The event was concluded by emphasizing the significance of continued stakeholder collaboration and leadership of the government in driving business resilience efforts.
The Thailand Business Forum was supported by Project partners, the Integrated Disaster Risk Management Fund (IDRM) of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) financed by the Government of Canada, and the German Ministry for Economic Development and Cooperation (BMZ) through the Deutsche Gesellschaft fur Internationale Zusammenarbeit GmbH (GIZ) within the framework of the Global Initiative on Disaster Risk Management (GIDRM).