On Friday, December 20, 2024, the Office of the National Economic and Social Development Council (NESDC) organized a consultation meeting regarding Thailand’s OECD membership. The meeting aimed to help government agencies and private sector understand the OECD membership process, particularly for 2025 when Thailand must begin preparing the Initial Memorandum (IM), which is a preliminary self-assessment document and the first step in the membership process. Mr. Thatchai Keertipongpaiboon, Director of the International Strategy and Cooperation Division, chaired the meeting, with over 130 representatives from relevant agencies in attendance.
During this occasion, the Chairman reported on Thailand’s overall progress, noting that on October 28, 2024, the Prime Minister signed the order to establish the Steering Committee for Thailand’s OECD Membership. The Prime Minister serves as chairman, with NESDC, Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA), and Office of the Council of State (OCS) as joint secretariat. Regarding cooperation with OECD, Thailand currently holds the status of an accession candidate country, allowing participation in all OECD Committee meetings. Initially, Thai agencies should consider participating in the 26 committees that will assess Thailand’s membership to learn about committee missions and build relationships with OECD member countries.
Additionally, MFA representatives reported on the OECD Secretary-General’s visit to Thailand during October 29-31, 2024, which included a courtesy call with the Prime Minister and participation in Thailand’s OECD membership launch event. The OECD Secretary-General emphasized that the OECD membership process is open-ended with no fixed timeline, and Thailand should take as much time as necessary to complete the relevant procedures. Thailand’s membership will bring mutual benefits to both Thailand and OECD. The OECD is ready to support and enhance cooperation with Thai agencies through capacity-building and technical assistance to make Thailand’s membership process more effective.
Regarding the IM preparation, OCS representatives explained the process of creating the Initial Memorandum, which is a self-assessment document examining the alignment between domestic laws, policies, and practices with OECD legal instruments. Relevant Thai agencies, especially the main agencies in the 26 OECD committees, must begin studying the details of relevant OECD legal instruments to compare them with their existing laws, policies, and practices. If there are inconsistencies, agencies must specify further actions for alignment and may propose reservations on issues where Thailand is not ready for binding commitments.
The OCS representative also explained the IM preparation system. OCS has developed a platform using artificial intelligence (AI) technology to translate over 250 OECD legal instruments from English to Thai and conduct preliminary alignment analysis.
The AI system matches specific terms in the instruments with specialized terminology in Thai primary and secondary legislation to identify relevant agencies for proper coordination. Agencies can verify the system’s analysis and input additional information on the platform for further alignment assessment in both Thai and English, using automatic translation between the two languages.
In the final stage, OCS legal officers will verify the accuracy, helping to reduce language barriers and make Thailand’s IM preparation more efficient, faster, and systematic. OCS expects to launch the system for agency input in April 2025 and submit the IM to OECD in December 2025. They also plan to develop the platform for future use by Thai agencies and OECD during in-depth technical assessments.
Currently, NESDC is preparing to propose to the Cabinet the assignment of lead agencies and relevant organizations for driving OECD membership, ensuring Thailand can efficiently and holistically proceed with the membership process. They are also accelerating public awareness, particularly regarding the benefits of OECD membership, to encourage participation from all sectors and make OECD membership relevant to all Thai people.
Progress on Thailand’s OECD membership can be followed at bit.ly/43SdmE0
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