October 17, 2000

Dispatch of Experts to Thailand under the Roving Automotive Expert Dispatch Scheme

1. The Japan Automobile Manufacturers Association (Chairman: Hiroshi Okuda) and the Japan Auto Parts Industries Association (Chairman: Haruo Ohno) had decided to dispatch to Thailand management, production engineering and improvement guidance experts in the automotive field in accordance with the Roving Automotive Expert Dispatch Scheme (*) whose purpose is to foster the development of the ASEAN automobile industry.

2. The five-month period from October 19 (Thursday) 2000 until March 18 (Sunday) 2001 will be the first stage of this scheme in Thailand, and during this period eight Japanese experts will be dispatched to the Thai Automotive Industry Association which is a member of the Federation of Thai Industries (with the cooperation of the Thai Automotive Institute.) As their specific local activities, the dispatched experts will give the following advice or guidance to the automotive parts manufacturing companies specified by the Thai side.

  1. The experts will locate and identify the problem areas of the local automotive parts industry and give advice or guidance on improvements.

  2. The period of stay at each local company will be about one month and the general rule will be for 2 - 3 experts to be dispatch to a company. After this, the experts will make rounds of companies to which they have been dispatched, in order to monitor the improvements made and give advice.

3. The dispatch of the experts will take place by making use of the Program for Industrial Restructuring of the Japan Overseas Development Corporation. The Inauguration Ceremony for the Roving Automotive Expert Dispatch Scheme is scheduled to be held soon in Thailand in the presence of the relevant cabinet ministers.

4. The schedule for the dispatch of experts to the other three countries (Indonesia, Malaysia, and the Philippines) is taking shape and concrete preparations are underway for requesting the formation of the local organization hosting the experts and recruiting the experts so that it will be possible to dispatch the experts from April 2001.

(*) For Reference
The Roving Automotive Expert Dispatch Scheme has been prepared following the proposal indicating the importance of human resource development to support medium- and small-size companies and craftsmanship as stated in the Report of the Mission for Revitalization of Asian Economy (led by Mr. Hiroshi Okuda, Chairman of the Japan Federation of Employers' Associations) as well as the inclusion of the promotion of the roving expert dispatching scheme in the automobile sector, as part of the "10 Major Areas of Cooperation" announced by Mr. Fukaya, the previous Japanese Minister of International Trade and Industry at the AEM-MITI Consultations held in Myanmar in May of this year.

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