Thailand Confident of 2028 OECD Accession as ADB Pledges $30 Billion for ASEAN
Thai Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on October 17 in Bangkok that Thailand is confident of meeting its goal of joining the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in 2028, after talks with OECD Secretary-General Mathias Cormann on the sidelines of the World Bank and International Monetary Fund annual meetings. Anutin said accession would help draw investment, raise competitiveness and support long-term economic development.
On the same day, Asian Development Bank President Masato Kanda met Anutin in Bangkok. The ADB pledged support for Thailand's disaster preparedness and set out a plan to mobilize up to $30 billion by 2030 for ASEAN priorities, including connectivity, the digital and blue economies, sustainability-linked finance and food security. "Our priority is to protect communities when disaster strikes and help them recover and prosper," Kanda said.
Thailand is the ADB's second-largest destination for private-sector investment. Since 2022 the bank has driven more than $3 billion of investment in Thailand across clean energy, battery storage and agribusiness. Kanda's four-day visit coincided with the 2026 annual meetings in Bangkok, and Thailand is due to chair ASEAN in 2028, a role the ADB said it would support. (GSM, based on Reuters reporting and ADB statements)
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 曼谷郑王庙。 Photo by Jakub Hałun, Wikimedia Commons, CC BY-SA 4.0.
