Thailand and ASEAN

Thailand is a Southeast Asian country located at the center of the Indochina peninsula. There are 76 provinces in Thailand, which are first-level administrative divisions, along with Bangkok, the capital and biggest city, and Pattaya, which are governed as a special district. With an area of 513,000 km2 it has a population of 70 million people.

Thailand is an emerging economy and is considered a newly industrialised country, with manufacturing, agriculture, and tourism as the leading sectors. Its economy is heavily export-dependent, with exports accounting for more than two-thirds of gross domestic product. The country is a key player in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), enjoying a strategic location that provides easy access to a larger market of over 660 million people, making it a community of connectivity, a single market and production base.

The GDP was USD 513 billion in 2021, while the GDP per capita amounted to USD 7,340. Agriculture contributed 8 percent to Thailand’s gross domestic product, while the industry and the services sector contributed 34 and 58 percent, respectively.

The total value of Thailand’s international trade amounted to USD 485 billion in 2021, with the exports amounting to USD 245 billion, and the total value of imports to USD 240 billion. The main import and export destinations were China, Japan, and the United States.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is a political and economic union of ten members, has 667 million people and a territory of 4.5 million Km2; is currently the third largest economy in Asia-Pacific and the fifth largest in the World. The ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) has a combined GDP of USD 3.6 trillion according to estimates for 2022.