Thai Prime Minister Defends Dual-Track Economic Policy.

Byline: Voranai Vanijaka

Jul. 26--Foreign investors "may not understand the whole purpose of what we are doing", Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday in a defence of his dual-track economic policy to the Joint Foreign Chambers of Commerce.

Mr Thaksin pledged the continuation of export-led growth and a focus on foreign direct investment, but emphasised a second track of domestic growth and poverty eradication, which he deemed more important.

"You may not understand my intentions, but my friends understand that I'm very international.. and my business is very international even though it's a domestic business," he told an audience of 900 executives.

"The young generation of Thai entrepreneurs came back [from education abroad] and worked for MNCs (multinational companies), so we have fewer and fewer entrepreneurs," he said, adding that while they learned management style from multinationals, there was little technology transfer.

Having been born and raised in rural Thailand, Mr Thaksin said he realised that "the poor are a burden for the government to help".

Although the poor were not the source of Thailand's economic ailments, "we have to start [solving economic problems] at the grass-roots level", he said.