Thailand Mail Service Upgrade Vital

Thailand’s postal service is expected to improve significantly to accomodate the nation’s growing publishing industry. The Thai Printing Association has stressed the need for more efficient postal services in conjuction with the government’s project to make Thailand a printing and publishing hub in Asia. “In the next two years, Thailand’s postal services should be on par with international standards,” said Kriengkrai Thiennukul, president of TPA. The TPA has already convinced a number of publishing houses in Europe and the United States to use Thailand as a production base and helped them get tax breaks from the Board of Investment. It is also in negotiations with McGraw Hill and Time Warner and some other big publishing companies to set up a production base for the region here. Mr. Kriengkrai said unlike Singapore and Hong Kong, postal services in Thailand currently fail to meet customers’ demand in terms of delivery time and efficiency. He said an efficient mail service was a significant factor for building Thailand into a publishing centre. It was also vital for attracting foreign printing houses to operate from here, as they would rely on the postal services to deliver their products to other countries in the region. The TPA has also asked the government to reduce the import tariffs on newsprint.