Master’s Degree Program In “Sviluppo Economico e dell'Impresa” Second Cycle (D.M. 270/2004) Final Thesis Thailand: regional prospective and Italian trade-economic relations Supervisor Ch. Prof. Stefano Soriani Assistant Supervisor Ch. Prof. Antonio Paradiso Graduand Nicola Badin 847646 Academic Year 2017 / 2018 Table of Contents Introduction ................................................................................................................. 1 Chapter 1. Geography and History of South East Asia.............................................. 3 1.1 Geography of South East Asia ................................................................................................ 3 1.1.1 The term “South-East Asia” ................................................................................................................ 3 1.1.2 Mountains and Geological Framework................................................................................................ 9 1.1.4. Hydrography: Rivers and Lakes in Southeast Asia ........................................................................... 16 1.1.5. Climate: the monsoon region ........................................................................................................... 24 1.2 A Short History of Southeast Asia ........................................................................................ 31 1.2.1 Ancient Times: Palaeolithic, Neolithic, Early Agriculture Societies and Bronze Age ......................... 31 1.2.2 Early Historical Era .......................................................................................................................... 33 1.2.3 Medieval History: early kingdoms and religion influences. ............................................................... 36 1.2.4 Early Modern Era: European Colonisation ........................................................................................ 41 1.2.5 20th-Century ..................................................................................................................................... 46 Chapter 2. The ASEAN market ................................................................................. 50 2.1 Introducing the ASEAN ........................................................................................................ 50 2.2 Political and Social Cooperation ........................................................................................... 57 2.3 Member countries economy .................................................................................................. 65 2.3.1 Myanmar .......................................................................................................................................... 65 2.3.2. Laos ................................................................................................................................................ 69 2.3.3 Cambodia ......................................................................................................................................... 70 2.3.4. Vietnam .......................................................................................................................................... 72 2.3.5. Malaysia .......................................................................................................................................... 82 2.3.6 Singapore ......................................................................................................................................... 89 2.3.7 Indonesia .......................................................................................................................................... 94 2.3.8 Philippines ....................................................................................................................................... 99 2.3.9 Brunei ............................................................................................................................................ 100 2.4 ASEAN Economic Cooperation .......................................................................................... 101 2.4.1 Overview of Regional Economy ..................................................................................................... 101 2.4.2 The AEC Project ............................................................................................................................ 112 2.4.3 Financial Cooperation: Lessons from the Asian Crisis (1997-1998) and the Chiang Mai Initiative... 121 Chapter 3. Thailand Economy ................................................................................ 128 3.1 Macroeconomic Trends ....................................................................................................... 128 3.2 Industries, Manufacture and Production .......................................................................... 147 3.2.1 Agricultural Sector ......................................................................................................................... 147 3.2.2 Electrical, Automotive and Energy Sectors ..................................................................................... 159 3.3 Services .................................................................................................................................. 168 3.4 Future challenges: Thailand 4.0, SEZs and Eastern Economic Corridor ...................... 171 Chapter 4. Thai-Italian Economic Relations.......................................................... 178 4.1 Italian Framework to Internationalization Support ........................................................ 178 4.1.1 The Importance of Exports and SMEs for Italy ............................................................................... 178 4.1.2 Italian Promotion Institutions .......................................................................................................... 181 4.1.3 Promotion Activities ....................................................................................................................... 185 4.2 Thailand-Italy Economic and Trade Relations ................................................................. 192 4.2.1 Overview ASEAN-Italy Trade Relations ........................................................................................ 192 4.2.2 Outlook of Italy and Thailand economic relations ........................................................................... 197 4.2.3 The Role of the Thai-Italian Chamber of Commerce ....................................................................... 208 Conclusions .............................................................................................................. 212 Bibliography ............................................................................................................. 216 Introduction The aim of this thesis is to understand the regional aspects, the Thai economy and the economic and trade relations between Italy and Thailand. By doing this it will be understood the role of Thailand in the ASEAN, the most important Southeast Asian regional organization. At the same time it will be considered the Italian role as a commercial and economic partner of Thailand. The project is divided in four main parts: the first two chapters are dedicated to the Regional context while the third and fourth studies the economy of Thailand and the Italian trade-economic relations. The first chapter focus on analyzing the history and geography of Southeast Asia. Before getting deeply into the geographical connotation it was essential understand what the term South East Asian means. So the paragraph 1.1.1 presents the developing of the term in its different variations through time. The main hydrography and orography characteristics of the area are essential to understand the economic and social aspects described in the following chapters. The major features of the mountains and geological framework of Southeast Asia must be divided specifically for the continental and insular areas. The continental part is defined by the river’s complex formed by the main three rivers Mekong, Irrawady and Chao Praya. Each of them is a key resource for the economy and society of the countries in which they flow. The insular part main features are the high presence of volcanos and tectonic activity. The events caused by the volcanos explosions and the earthquakes have been destructive in some cases, such as the Krakatoa eruption or the Indonesia Tsunami in 2004. Even though it is necessary to say that they are quite rare. The chapter then focused on the history of Southeast Asia from the ancient times to the 20th century. The different populations that occupied the territories had made the region unique in terms of ethnic, social and cultural composition. In particular the colonialism, that can only be considered finished in the last century, impacted greatly in Southeast Asia. The only country that did not experienced a colonization process was Thailand which had maintained its independence and was able to build relations with the colonizers. The last century was marked by the Second World War and the Post Colonization Wars, described in the paragraph 1.2.5. All these aspects led to the necessity to have a more cohesive regional organization. The solution was the creation of ASEAN in 1967. The impact on the area of the ASEAN is described in the second Chapter. This part opens with the path that the countries have taken to create this organization which started operating significantly only after