Chairman of British Chamber of Commerce Thailand

Welcome to our 2023 BCCT Handbook (published December 2022), and thank you to all of our members for your ongoing enthusiastic support for the Chamber.

The British Chamber had a fabulous year, with everyone making the most of meeting in person again. We know from your feedback and comments how much members enjoy this aspect of the Chamber’s events.

The results are very encouraging, including an increased NPS rating from +4 in 2018 to +20 in 2022, and reaffirmed our direction of travel. There were also several great suggestions for us to consider, many of which have been acted upon already such as: private consultations with members; advocacy; access to government officials, assistance with finding new clients and raising awareness of member companies. Thank you for your feedback

Over the past 12 months we have launched 5 new Working Groups in response to member suggestions. These were Advocacy; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Marketing Communications; ESG; and SME. We now have 18 Working Groups leading the Chamber, with very active support and participation by members.

A particular source of pride for me is our Women in Business group, which runs sessions every month and does an incredibly important service by mentoring future female leaders. We believe deeply in this mission, which is why our board is exactly 50/50 in terms of male-female gender representation. This is a great achievement for the British Chamber, affirming that we can indeed deliver on the goals we set for ourselves.

Other Working Group initiatives include community education, lobbying with Government, social events, and business networking in a manner that supports all members. Working Groups and Regional Representatives are the backbone of the Chamber, and we encourage anyone that is interested to put themselves forward to support their efforts. The more we can accomplish as a values-driven organisation, the more our Chamber’s reputation will grow as a respected voice of British business here in Thailand.

Speaking of accomplishments: Although the pandemic caused major disruptions in recent years, our Chamber took on a leading role in the response. On the public health side, we let members and their organisations know that we could source vaccines for them, and arrange appointments. We then looked after people that weren’t even members of the British Chamber. In total, over 7200 people have been vaccinated through this programme. In fact, it is still running today as people go back for boosters.

On the professional side, we moved our activities online to keep members connected during COVID –and then brought back live events to help our community return to normalcy when the worst of the pandemic had passed.

This level of coordination and continuity has allowed our Chamber to advocate even more effectively on behalf of its members. To that end, we’re building on our excellent relationship with the British Embassy and the Department for International Trade, in anticipation of a number of expected visits to Thailand over the coming months by Members of the British Government. Lobbying for better trade arrangements between Thailand and the UK is essential, and we have held 10 events in the past three years which featured the British Ambassador, British Embassy, or British Ministers.

We have also been involved in supporting the various Thai-UK Business Leadership Council (TUBLC) initiatives that help build strong business relationships between our two Kingdoms. TUBLC comprises senior business leaders from Thai and British companies. Its purpose is to look for creative ways to encourage Thai and British businesses to build new and innovative partnerships and encourage the governments of both countries to foster trade and investment in both markets.

In the same way, we have fostered an excellent relationship with the Thai Ambassador to London. Last year we acknowledged the retirement of Ambassador Pisanu and welcomed his successor Ambassador Thani. We are delighted to announce that Ambassador Pisanu has agreed to become an Honorary Advisor to the Chamber, now that he has returned to Thailand.

Our Chamber has likewise been actively involved in regular meetings with the British Embassy and DIT, various Thai Government Ministries, and the Thai Chambers of Commerce/Board of Trade. During 2022 we also Chaired the FCA, an organisation made up of the Australian, American, and German Chambers, often linking with the Japanese Chamber and the British Chambers of Commerce in the UK and elsewhere overseas. As we listen to the concerns and priorities of British businesses here in Thailand, these relationships let us meaningfully convey such issues to the relevant parties for consideration.

Throughout these initiatives, we continue to promote the activities of the Chamber as part of an active social media campaign. This is an important two-way communication channel with members, which also increases our visibility to the wider professional community.

Behind the scenes, I am once again pleased to report that the Executive, the Board, Honorary Advisors, Working Groups, and Regional Representatives have worked tirelessly to deliver on behalf of you, our members.

Managing the day-to-day activities and all our events at the Chamber, we have a fantastic Executive team led by Greg Watkins and comprising Rungjit Jarernponganarn, Jina Phenix, Wanthep Pattanatiensakul, Warunee Krisee, Pattama Panjanont, and Krit Pongpitak who has retired this year. I would like to express my personal thanks to each of these wonderful colleagues, as their commitment and drive lets the BCCT continue to punch above its weight.

Looking ahead to 2023, our aim is to continually improve our support for businesses of all types and sizes. We are increasing the number of colleagues in the executive team. This growth will enable us to establish stronger relationships with senior government officials and ministers, organise more events, and support our Working Groups more effectively.

In line with our constitution, a number of Board Directors will be standing down and may stand for reelection - Amanda Dennison, Khemika Ratanakul, Kieran Taylor, James Teague, Robin Spencer and Donna Moolman. I would like to thank them all for their service and commitment to the BCCT. I have also reached the end of my term, and feel honored to have had the opportunity to serve as Chair

I would also like to take this opportunity to encourage anyone who would like to stand as a director, or become more involved with a Working Group, to please reach out to Greg Watkins for further information. Stepping forward to participate is a great way to network and support the BCCT.

To find out more about the Chamber, its events, or other related activities, please visit our website https:// members.bccthai.com/ or email Greg Watkins at greg@bccthai.com. We encourage you to join our new LINE Group, at @bccthai

Please also encourage any British businesses that are not members to find out more about us, and what we can do to support them.

Thank you to all of our members for your ongoing support and involvement with the BCCT. We are a true members Chamber, seeking always to act in your best interest.

Chris Cracknell

to collaborate on foreign investment and trade issues of mutual

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Bcct Membership

As we move from a partial Covid year into hopefully a year clear of pandemic-related issues, BCCT has enhanced its value proposition to members and has made key strategic investments to develop this even further:

• Working Groups – active working groups increased to 16 in 2022: Advocacy; Chiang Mai; Digital Technology; Diversity, Equity & Inclusion; Eastern Seaboard; Environment, Social & Governance; Events; Hua Hin; Legal & Tax; Marketing Communications, Membership; Phuket; Property & Infrastructure; Travel & Tourism; Women in Business; and Young Professionals. Design, Education and Skills Development are three new groups to come early in 2023. Please engage directly in our working groups or come to the many events planned next year.

• Events – BCCT’s events programme is now back in full-flow without restrictions. We continue to offer attendance at our events to all members. We are investing in a new senior resource to be solely responsible for BCCT’s major events thus leaving our current team to deliver many more events for members, in particular from our working groups.

• Enhanced Advocacy – following the formation of the Advocacy Group, we have invested in a Policy Manager in order to support BCCT advocacy with the Thai government on behalf of members. We will be reaching out to you very soon in order to better understand your challenges in doing business in Thailand. The Policy Manager will also support members’ interests in the Enhanced Trade Partnership between UK and Thailand that is expected to lead to a bilateral Free Trade Agreement.

• Effective Communications – we continue to develop our comms platforms in order to engage with members in the most convenient and effective ways. For example, we recently established a LINE group. Please join this and also connect with my team and I on LinkedIn.

• Annual Partnership –BCCT continues to offer a heavilydiscounted bespoke package of benefits for those members wishing to invest a little more in your relationship with BCCT. Benefits include corporate video promotions on social media, banner displays on the BCCT website, digital and hard copy ads, email promotions, social media publicity, and event sponsorship and attendance. The cost can also be paid by instalment.

Bcct Membership Fees

We know that for many members, especially SMEs, cashflow remains a challenge. Launched in 2020 we can take the annual membership fee in quarterly or monthly instalments with a single instruction – on credit card via Omise or by bank standing order. This equates to only THB 2,219 plus VAT per month for a corporate member in Bangkok

For setting up your quarterly or monthly payments please contact Jina at jina@bccthai.com. Telephone number 026515350-1

Please see payment details below:

BCCT Activities

Bcct Meeting Bangkok Governor

The membership rates are exclusive of 7% VAT

On the 22nd July 2022 British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) and BCCT Advocacy Working Group had an official meeting with Mr. Sanon Wangsrangboon, the new deputy Governor of Bangkok, Permanent Secretary for Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) and the BMA executives

The discussion covered economy, tourism, education, culture, society, opportunity for future collaboration working on sustainable growth for the people and business community.

Uk Trade Envoy For Thailand

British Chamber of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) members with visiting UK Trade Envoy for Thailand, Mark Garnier MP.

The dinner was an opportunity for those present to update Mr Garnier on the business climate in Thailand, opportunities and challenges in the Thai economy and the desirability of concluding a bilateral Free Trade Agreement (FTA) as a consequence of the current Enhanced Trade Partnership between UK and Thailand.