Pheu Thai gets to work on soft power development

Leading Pheu Thai figure Paetongtarn Shinawatra on Thursday outlined the party’s policy to develop Thailand’s soft power.

Writing on Facebook after the cabinet set up a strategic committee on soft power chaired by Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin with Paetongtarn as deputy chair, she said soft power covers the development of personnel skills, the creative economy, democratic politics and foreign affairs, also known as “cultural diplomacy”.

“Soft power is not only about the creative economy or international politics,” she wrote. “We must work on many issues, so we can promote culture, creativity and value internationally."

She added that this is why Pheu Thai is cooperating with several ministries on promoting soft power, including the Foreign Ministry on policies related to export culture, the Education Ministry on boosting entrepreneurs’ potential and the Commerce Ministry on marketing.

The party is also collaborating with representatives from many industries on expanding the cultural market internationally, she added.

Paetongtarn explained that soft power development will be separated into two parts: personnel and industrial development.

On personnel development, Pheu Thai is introducing a “one family one soft power” policy to boost creative skills among Thai workers, and will soon set up the Thailand Creative Content Agency (THACCA) to develop a creative industry similar to that of South Korea and Taiwan.

Paetongtarn and the Pheu Thai policy team have brainstormed on how to develop the creative industry and identified many opportunities to do so, she said.

She also vowed that the party and private partners will work hard to enable Thailand to cope with the middle-income trap and become a high-income country.

Apart from several ministers, Pheu Thai’s strategic committee on soft power consists of celebrities in creative and related fields, including:

Pimol Srivikorn