ASEAN’S 600 million people represents 8.6% of the total world population. The majority are poor with a per capital income of just 3,638 dollars per year compared to GDP per capital for the rest of the world of around 10,143 dollars. However, each year the GDP of the ASEAN region grows almost 6% compared to the rest of the world's 3-4%. 

The Department of Industrial Promotion (DIP) by the Bureau of Supporting Industries Development (BSID), the Alliance for Supporting Industries Association (A.S.I.A) and UBM Asia (Thailand) have co-organized an event entitled "Empowering entrepreneurs to prepare for the ASEAN Economic Community". The presentation is one of several activities created to encourage entrepreneurs in ASEAN to participate in the many business building activities at SUBCON Thailand and INTERMACH 2013.

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The value of Japanese investment in Thailand during the second quarter of last year was about 2.1 billion baht. For 2013 this is expected to increase to 3.1 billion baht. One of the reasons is the Japanese government’s policy to support domestic SMEs and help them invest and relocate their production base to other countries. They are doing this in order to reduce the number of businesses that are closing down and losing existing technology. SMEs are being helped through a plan called "Only One Technology" which will assist the next generation.