Commerce Ministry holds talks with Google in Washington

A Thai delegation led by Commerce Minister Pichai Naripthaphan met with Google executives led by Marcus D Jadotte, vice-president of government affairs and public policy, in Washington, DC.

This meeting was in line with Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s aim to build an ecosystem supportive to growth of the Thai digital industry.

The discussion also covered Google’s investment in Thai government projects in terms of cloud service and data centres, as well as the ASEAN Digital Economy Framework Agreement (DEFA) chaired by Thailand.

Pichai noted that the government and the Commerce Ministry want to ensure that DEFA can support digital industry growth, saying that Thailand also pays attention to improving laws to cope with the impact of artificial intelligence (AI) on intellectual property.

“Thailand aims to finish DEFA negotiations by 2025. If successful, it will be the world’s first regional digital economy agreement, which will help strengthen the digital economy between ASEAN and other regions, including the US,” he said.

The commerce minister also invited Google to take part in the development of the ministry's super app, which could help boost efficiency of government projects.  

He confirmed that Google is ready to invest more in Thailand, saying that Thailand has energy infrastructure that supports development of data centres and AI.

Apart from Google, he said large US tech companies have invested in Thailand, such as Microsoft and Amazon. The United Arab Emirates is interested in setting up a data centre in Thailand, he said.

Discussions with Google will help boost Thailand’s potential to become a regional digital hub, Pichai added.