Transcript of the above video:

As the title of this video suggests, we are discussing the Land Bridge in Thailand. What are we talking about here? I thought of making this video after reading a recent article from the Bangkok Post, bangkokpost.com, the article is titled: PM touts Land Bridge project. Quoting directly: "Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin has invited Japanese businesspeople to invest in Thailand's Land Bridge mega project as the two countries mark 136 years of bilateral relations." One thing I have got to say about the new Prime Minister, him running around and just being the salesman of Thailand, selling "brand Thailand", he has been doing that with great vigour since he took the job and I have got to say I love it. I think it is great. He went over the United States, it's my understanding at APEC, he was really sort of selling Thailand, kind of hustling for us over there, trying to get new investments in that way. Now talking about this Land Bridge; I will get into that more in a moment. I think these are all great developments. Quoting further: "Mr Srettha said the Government has also prioritized infrastructure development such as the Land Bridge mega project to create a new logistics transport network connecting the Pacific and the Indian oceans with seaports, rail systems and road systems." Again, all great news; I think that this is a really good development. 

They have been talking about a canal for years and it looks like the consensus has formed around the notion of a land bridge, which in my opinion I think it is a lot better for a variety of different reasons, most notably I think the infrastructural project is going to be far less daunting if it is a Land Bridge rather than trying to build a canal. Meanwhile, there are also issues to consider when you have a maritime waterway going through a given nation state and I think again that might have factored in to the consensus to go for a Land Bridge. 

I kind of look at this Land Bridge idea as maybe something that would add on to the initiatives that were undertaken with regard to things like the Eastern Economic Corridor and trying to turn Thailand into sort of an entrepôt here in Southeast Asia for cross border trade, maritime trade and trade between the Pacific and the Indian Oceans. Again all of these things auger well for the future of Thailand's economy and we will certainly keep people updated on this channel as the situation evolves.