In a video conference with provincial governors, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra called on each province to bring out the uniqueness of its products in order to develop OTOP brands.
The Prime Minister said that the Government would seek more channels to
distribute OTOP products to various shopping centers and through multi-level
marketing. She suggested that community products should link to tourism markets
in all provinces, so that they would have good potential for becoming better
known in international markets.
The Prime Minister stated that OTOP products should be divided into various
groups, or segmentations, so that efficient strategies could be worked out to
develop them. For example, OTOP producers should be provided with greater access
to financial sources, and they should also be given assistance in terms of
designing.
The public and private sectors recently launched a new project, “OTOP
Plus,” to upgrade the standards of OTOP products, add value to them, and
promote them in foreign countries, especially in the ASEAN region.
Under the project, at least 200 OTOP products will be selected by the
Ministry of Interior and provincial governors across the country. Educational
institutions will help improve the quality of these products by combining local
wisdom with innovation, and by using modern technology.
Various activities will also be introduced to provide greater opportunities
for OTOP entrepreneurs to have access to more market channels, both
domestically and internationally. Online marketing will be launched, as well,
to publicize and expand the distribution of OTOP goods.
The Government wants local residents to continue to develop OTOP products
to generate sustainable income for various communities. Apart from generating
employment, the OTOP program will also encourage the people to produce goods
using their homegrown skills and expertise. More one-stop service centers for
OTOP goods will be set up to boost the sales of Thai community products more
extensively.
OTOP products have good potential for expansion in the ASEAN market, which
will become a single community in 2015. The Thai government believed that if
Thailand could expand the OTOP market to ASEAN countries, OTOP goods would be
in the homes of 600 million people in ASEAN, instead of more than 60 million in
Thailand.
The OTOP program was launched in 2001 as a self-help mechanism for each and
every community, with emphasis on rural areas, to draw upon local knowledge and
ingenuity. It is now receiving a major boost to enhance the competitiveness of
Thai community products.
(thailand.prd.go.th)
