Ambassador to Thailand: “Britain open for business”
Bangkok – British Ambassador to Thailand Brian Davidson has declared that Britain remains open for business, despite its imminent exit from the European market. Davidson made the announcement at a media reception last night at the opulent Ambassador’s Residence, Wireless Road, on the eve of Britain’s formal exit from Europe.
Davidson, whose government sees ‘Brexit’ as an opportunity to deepen and expand relationships with its global partners, emphasised, “We will continue to be the outward-looking, globally open-minded Britain”.
Thailand’s own economic ambitions are under transition and recently released Vision 4.0, a blueprint to transform the country to be more innovation driven. Davidson believes that the South East Asian country’s aspirations, both domestically and within its role as a member of ASEAN, fit well with the skills, expertise and technology of the British across key sectors, including aerospace, education and agriculture.
The ambassador illustrated this point with examples of two British companies that will soon become familiar to Thais. The first: Quorn, a high-protein alternative to meat, will land on Thai supermarket shelves. The second, Scomadi, is a cool, British-designed scooter that hails back to the classic days of the ‘mods’ in the 60s and 70s.
Some readers may be sad to learn that last night’s event will be the last of its kind at the current site. The British government is in talks with the Central Group over sale of the land, a deal which is expected to be completed within a month.
The reception, which included a roundup from the heads of the embassy’s departments, was well attended by editors and reporters representing the likes of The Nation, Bangkok Post, Bangkok 101 and Expat Life in Thailand.
The British consular section in Thailand is one of the largest and busiest in the world and handles a daunting 1,200 cases per year. Cases range from British citizens caught up in accidents to arrests and deaths. An estimated 50,000 British expats are resident in Thailand; 10,000 of whom are retirees.
