by DEVNET JAPAN
The Thai Canal Development Project which was announced by DEVNET INTERNATIONAL (Chair & CEO Fumiyasu Akegawa) is a very important project for the post-Covid19 global economy, especially for the Asian economies.
The New Deal, Tennessee Valley, TVA Development Project, led by the President Roosevelt after the 1929 Great Depression, which began on Wall Street, had a tremendous effect on U.S. economic recovery. The Thai Canal project is a major shipping and logistics project in the 21st century, comparable to the Suez Canal in the 19th century and to the Panama Canal in the 20th century. It seems to develop into a symbolically large project of the Asian Era which has a significant impact on logistics in Asia, connecting the Indian Ocean, the Andaman Sea with the South China Sea and the Western Pacific.
The Suez Canal was completed in 1869 by a French diplomat Lesseps over a 10-year time. It connected the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea. The Panama Canal was also started by Lesseps in 1881. However, endemic diseases such as malaria and yellow fever spread in Jungle in the Isthmus of Panama, and the staff were infected. In addition, the construction was suspended by two-fifths due to the bankruptcy of Lesseps’s funds. Then Eiffel, who built Eiffel Tower, tried to take over but could not make it. In view of the geopolitical and military importance of the Panama Strait, the US government forcibly made Panama independent from Columbia, disinfected the strait extensively, introduced steam engines and modern construction equipment, and completed the canal in 1914 by the U.S. Corps of Engineers after 10 years of difficult work. The Panama Canal made a revolutionary contribution to global trade, shipping and logistics by linking the Caribbean and the Pacific Ocean.
The Thai Canal has the potential to develop into a comprehensive large-scale project in the 21st century for the promotion of the post-Covid19 Asian economy and the world economy with the cooperation of DEVNET and Asian countries centered on Thailand. As a symbolic project of the United Nations SDGs toward 2030 as well as the South-South cooperation / Trade for Peace, which Dr. Savio, the founder of DEVNET, has been working on for many years, I would like to expect the cooperation of the Asian countries, especially the Indo-Pacific countries for this project.
Russia, on the other hand, is focusing on developing arctic sea routes in the summer when glaciers melt. From LNG terminals on the Yamal Peninsula to China, with the aim of transporting to South Korea and Japan, they are focusing on developing new logistics in Asia. The stranding of a 200,000-ton container ship on the Suez Canal at the end of March hit the flow of the Suez Canal, which accounts for 10% of the world’s trade. It is said that many ships were forced to stay outside canal, and the damage amounted to a huge amount of 10 billion USD. The accident further increased the importance of building The Thai Canal.?
The construction of the canal will eliminate the congestion of vessels in the Straits of Malacca, shorten the route by 1200km, and shorten the transit time by 3-7 days. When The Thai Canal is completed, it will have a revolutionary impact on trade and logistics in Asia, which is becoming the world’s trading center. The Suez Canal was built by France in the 19th century, and the Panama Canal by the United States in the 20th century. I hope that Thailand will take the lead in the Asian and 21st centuries, and that ASEAN countries and Japan will be involved in the construction.
I pray that the canal project, which has been a dream of the Kingdom of Thailand for 300 years, will be realized as the post-Covid19 world economy and world trade promotion policy “New Deal in the 21st Century Asian Era from ASEAN”. I truly hope that the dream of constructing The Thai Canal, which has been sought after for many years, will be realized with the efforts of everyone involved in the Kingdom of Thailand and DEVNET INTERNATIONAL.
*Biography
Juro Nakagawa, Councilor of DEVNET JAPAN, Specially Appointed Professor, 22nd Century Institute, Nagoya City University, President, Business Intelligence Society of Japan, Academic Advisor (Former President) to International Academic Society for Asian Community (ISAC) Former Professor, Graduate School of Business Administration, Tokyo Keizai University, Former Vice President, Business Development, Nichimen America Inc., New York (now Sojitz).