This accounts for around 80% of total trade volumes between Thailand and these three countries. In this respect, it is important that GMS governments harmonize rules and regulations for trade and investment transactions, both within each country and between countries, with a view to improving ease of doing business and lowering trade and investment transaction costs. Ladies and gentlemen, Connections in physical infrastructure and thriving trade bring people together and that comes to the third aspect, people-to-people connectivity. Close proximity, improved infrastructure, and economic connection in the subregion have brought people to connect, either through labor movements or tourism. At present, it is estimated that above 2 million foreign workers in Thailand are from CLMV countries, contributing in various sectors. Each year, based on official records, they remit over 10 billion baht back to their home countries. With regard to tourism, around 2 million visitors from CLMV have made Thailand their destination every year. In the future, people connectivity should not be confined only to labor movement and tourism, but should develop into strengthened knowledge-sharing networks. GMS economies are in need to move up and integrate our value chains, and it is the people with skills, knowledge and innovative spirit who can make this happen. Strengthening knowledge networks for tertiary education, knowledge creation and knowledge sharing among industries will be a bedrock for building the subregion’s capacity, and help harmonize different rules and regulations. For Thailand, I am glad to see that we have increasingly offered educational training to citizens of the GMS.
ATM connectivity has also been established between Thailand and Myanmar and between Thailand and Laos to facilitate cross-border money transfer. Like other areas of regional connectivity, there is a need to upgrade financial connectedness to support closer economic relations among the GMS. For today, let me highlight three key areas that Thailand will pursue in this endeavor. The first one is to strengthen cross-border banking networks. With regard to the banking sector, the Bank of Thailand aims to further liberalize banking activities by broadening cross-border banking networks. We encourage Thai commercial banks to further expand their regional presence to support businesses operating in the GMS. In addition, we fully support foreign banks to use Thailand as a springboard to expand their businesses into the subregion. Recently, Bank of Tokyo-Mitsubishi acquired a microfinance bank in Cambodia, using Bank of Ayudhya as such a springboard; and in 2014, CIMBThai bank set up its first branch in Vientiane. Moreover, the Bank of Thailand has been relaxing regulations to further accommodate investors in the GMS. We will allow them to take loans from Thai banks for direct investment in the GMS without a cap. We also lifted the cap on outflows of transporting baht in cash to GMS countries from half a million to two million baht per trip. In this connection, we have now started to see the results of the increased flexibility, which helps multinational corporations to establish Treasury Centers and International Headquarters in Thailand.