The Roles of the Foreign Minister in the Next Government
The next government will have a most pressing problem for one government minister to solve, but I wonder which minister will be given the hard task? Foreign confidence in Thailand must be rebuilt despite Thailandrsquo;s economic outlook and lack of direction causing investors to shy away from investment here or to relocate overseas.
In my view, the Foreign Minister will have the toughest job as the psychological perception of foreign countries towards Thailand is a confidence problem that the Foreign Ministry should understand better than other Ministries.
Though economic woes undeniably constitute the hottest issues, with erroneous perceptions of the sufficiency economy, nominee shareholding problems, and 30 per cent foreign reserve requirement, confidence is also shaken by such problems as compulsory licensing, southern violence, and political conflicts.
So, what roles should the new Foreign Minister have? Foreigners have serious doubts about Thai government policy and the capability to manage problems, believing that the cause of problems is not understood by the government, and its response is slow.
Or, while government policy and measures to solve problems may be well-intended and well-principled, the failure to clearly convey or communicate these policy measures has inadvertently sent unfriendly signals to foreign investors.
Government public relations work must therefore be carried out in a more integrated manner with foreigners, using the Foreign Ministry for this work to achieve a more pro-active or aggressive PR objective.
The Foreign Ministry should work more closely in tandem with other Ministries when planning policy communication, so that foreigners better understand government policies and their rationale, and also to solve any miscommunication problems that may arise.
In Cabinet meetings, the Foreign Minister should help to reflect the foreign perception of issues that potentially impact foreign confidence. The Minister should then work more closely with economic ministries, understanding them extremely well to fine-tune economic policy and its communication, considering potential impacts on foreign perception so that foreign countries will understand and have confidence in Thailandrsquo;s direction and outlook.
In my view, the new Foreign Minister should play a role to ensure transparent government policy direction and good governance that is fair both to Thais and foreigners, and stable, so that foreign investors can predict policy direction and place confidence in its consistency. It is also important that policy outlook does not tend towards any anti-foreign investment.
The Foreign Minister should use more public relations strategies abroad, for example, eliciting confidence and coordination between foreign government agencies and Thailand, rallying support from countries supportive to Thailandrsquo;s policy approach on certain issues and recognition from international organizations for the same, and finding ways to make foreign investors in Thailand display more confidence towards the Thai economy.
Apart from a good knowledge in diplomacy, another favorable trait of the new Foreign Minister is that he or she should be a good communicator and public relations expert with multi-disciplinary knowledge, particularly about the economy. Most importantly, he or she should have extensive connections and networks overseas, and good relations with fellow diplomats, journalists, and foreign investors in Thailand.
เผยแพร่:
Living in Thailand
เมื่อ:
2007-11-01