The BCG Policy Board convened on 31 October 2022 to review the progress of policy related to the Bio-Circular-Green Economy (BCG) national agenda. Chaired by Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha, the board approved multiple initiatives to drive three strategic areas under the BCG Action Plan as follows.
- Drug and Vaccines. A proposal to establish the Center for Pharmacogenomics and Cancer Precision Medicine and the Center for Pharmacogenomics and Precision Medicine in Rare Diseases was approved with the government budget of THB 661.79 million. This project is expected to benefit 4 million Thai people. A proposal to set up Thailand’s first active pharmaceutical ingredients (API) manufacturing facility was endorsed with an objective to strengthen the national health security. The THB 1 billion investment to set up the facility will be jointly contributed by PTT Public Company Limited, Innobic (Asia) Company Limited, the Government Pharmaceutical Organization (GPO) and NSTDA.
- Agriculture. A budget of THB 50 million was approved to upgrade vaccine production infrastructure at Kasetsart University to support the production of autogenous vaccines to manage infectious diseases in farm animals. The vaccine will be used for the swine infectious disease management in Ratchaburi Sandbox. The board also ordered all government agencies to disclose information and data relating to supply chain to support big data analytics in agriculture to enable farmers to earn more income through better planning and management.
- Innovation, Infrastructure and Facilities. The board requested the Ministry of Finance to ease tax barriers to promote the joint investment project between Siam Cement Public Company Limited and Braskem – a world’s leading manufacturer of biopolymer – to build a THB 20-billion bio-polyethylene (Bio-PE) production plant with annual production capacity of 200,000 tons.
Prime Minister Prayut requested all government agencies to ramp up their effort to drive the BCG agenda. Measures discussed in the meeting and responsible agencies include encouraging BCG businesses to apply for the Thailand Trust Mark (T-Mark) to support market expansion (Department of International Trade Promotion), implementing a BCG integrated budget system in 2024 (Bureau of the Budget), and unlocking legal barriers such as allowing recycled plastic in packaging (Ministry of Public Health), banning styrofoam and single-use plastics in national parks (Department of National Parks, Wildlife and Plant Conservation), and offering excise tax exemption on industrial alcohol used in cosmetic and herbal product industry (Excise Department).
The Board of Investment (BOI) reported a strong investment in BCG industries with applications for investment promotion reaching THB 80 billion in the first half of 2022, accounting for 35% of total investment value. BCG businesses seeking investment promotion include medical supplies, diagnostic test kits and reagents, farm products from a plant factory, and plant-based protein. Financial institutions are expected to provide THB 100 billion loans to BCG businesses by 2027, including THB 60 billion by the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives and THB 100 billion, a jump from THB 50 billion, by the Export-Import Bank of Thailand (EXIM Bank).
On the social side, an establishment of cloud food bank is in the planning, taking on a quadruple helix approach with Advanced Info Service Public Company Limited (AIS) as a system developer and operator and Allianz Ayudhya Assurance Public Company Limited as a funder.