(Far right) Mr. Pakorn Nilprapunt, Secretary-General of Office of the Council of State signed a Memorandum of Understanding with (far left) Mr. Dhanawat Suthumpun, Country Manager, Microsoft (Thailand), (2nd left) Sunny Park, Assistant General Counsel, APAC, Microsoft Operations Pte Ltd, by having (2nd right) Mr. Ahmed Mazhari, President, Microsoft Asia, (3rd left) Mike Yeh, Regional Vice President and Director of Corporate, External and Legal Affairs, Microsoft Asia (3rd right) ML. Chayotid Kridakon, Advisor to Mr. Supattanapong Punmeechaow, Deputy Prime Minister, (Middle) Police Lt-Gen Picharn Jittirat, Advisor to Mr. Wissanu Krea-ngam, Deputy Prime Minister as the witness
Bangkok, 24 February 2022 – Office of the Council of State (OCS), an agency in the Office of the Prime Minister within the Royal Thai Government, and Microsoft today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to partner on policy and regulatory transformation to build a resilient and competitive digital economy in Thailand.
As the central agency mandated to provide legal advice and legislative drafting to the government, the three-year framework within the MoU includes digital transformation of the OCS, the development of a central knowledge sharing repository to create data-driven policies, and public consultation for good regulatory practice.
Mr. Pakorn Nilprapunt, Secretary-General of Office of the Council of State added, “As a forward-looking agency, we recognize that digital transformation will spur data-driven innovation across the country. It will improve the quality of citizen services for the Thai people and influence positive societal change, as well as empower the government to build resilience as we recover from the pandemic. We are very much looking forward to partnering closely with Microsoft to digitally transform our operations and upskill our people in accordance with international standards as we work to achieve these goals.”
Mr. Ahmed Mazhari, President, Microsoft Asia, said “Digital and regulatory transformation will continue to be key for governments in their mission to better serve citizens, provide trusted digital-first services, fuel innovation and entrepreneurship, and develop new solutions to policy challenges that will ultimately drive inclusive societal progress. As Thailand strives towards its ambition of 25% digital economy contribution to GDP by 2027, we are encouraged by this public-private partnership and the opportunity to jointly empower every person and organization in Thailand to achieve more.”
Mr. Dhanawat Suthumpun, Country Manager, Microsoft (Thailand), said “I’m proud to see this strategic partnership between OCS and Microsoft as Thailand leads the charge in digital policy transformation to enhance the resilience of the country. This MOU demonstrates the importance of the interplay between leading edge technology, and policy – which is an important agenda towards Thailand Digital Government vision and the advancement in Thailand’s chairmanship of APEC 2022.”