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Graham Macdonald honoured for services to British business interests in Thailand
Bangkok, 31 December 2012 - MBMG’s founding partner Graham Macdonald
has been awarded the MBE in the New Year’s Honours list of Queen Elizabeth
II. The Honours system was designed to recognise people who have made great
achievements in public life and have made life better for other people or
been outstanding at what they do.
Alongside well-known sportsmen and women and celebrities, long term Thai
resident Graham Macdonald has been given the honour “for services to British
business interests in Thailand.”
“While this award gives me enormous pride and satisfaction I would be the
first too say that what I have been able to achieve with the British Chamber
of Commerce Thailand (BCCT) and at MBMG Group owes a great deal to the
outstanding support that I have received from colleagues, friends and the
vast legion of people who have been so supportive throughout that time. I
like to think that my nomination reflects a job well done not so much by
Graham Macdonald but by the dedicated, hard-working and highly capable
exceptional individuals at the BCCT and MBMG Group and I would like to take
this opportunity to thank each and every one of them.”
The UK Government website (https://www.gov.uk/honours) explains how the
Honours system recognises people who have made great achievements in public
life and committed themselves to serving Britain. They will usually have
made life better for other people or been outstanding at what they do and
receive Honours for achievements like:
* Making a difference to their community or field of work
* Enhancing Britain’s reputation
* Long-term voluntary service
* Innovation and entrepreneurship
* Changing things, with an emphasis on achievement
* Improving life for people less able to help themselves
* Displaying moral courage and vision in making and delivering tough choices
Honours are given to people involved in different activities, including:
* Arts and media
* Health
* Education
* Science and technology
* Economy (including business etc)
* Community, voluntary and local services
* Sport
* State (including civil service, politicians, etc.)
Born in Birmingham, educated at Repton School and University of Bradford,
Graham Macdonald previously held positions in sales and management in the UK
before arriving in Thailand in 1994 and co-founding MBMG in 1995 with Paul
Gambles. Throughout his career in Thailand, Graham has been an active member
of the business and charitable community. He was the Founding Chairman of
the British Chamber of Commerce Thailand Eastern Seaboard in 1997, and
served on the main BCCT Board from 1998 to 2012 (for the last seven years as
either Vice Chairman or Chairman). For three of those years he was also
Chairman of the BCCT Charity Group. He is now President of the South African
Thai Chamber of Commerce, and has been a Director of the Board of Trade of
Thailand since April 2011.
Graham was President of ‘Care for Kids’ from 1998 to 2010, and Secretary of
the Lighthouse Club - Eastern Seaboard 2006/07. He is Vice Chairman of the
‘World of Wine’, a wine distribution business which gives its entire profits
to charitable causes. He was elected as President of the Royal British
Legion Thailand (RBLT) in 2009, a charity that also helps the Thai Veterans
hospitals. It is also worth noting that RBLT Secretary, Bert Elson, was
awarded the British Empire Medal in the same Honours List for “services to
the British community in Thailand”.
Graham is also well-known as a writer for various publications including
Pattaya Mail and Chiang Mai Mail and was nominated for the Lorenzo Natali
Prize for journalism, an award created by the European Union for reporting
on human rights and democracy in the developing world. As a Managing
Director of MBMG Group, Graham in based in both Bangkok and Pattaya, where
he continues to serve his clients both in Thailand and in 21 other countries
across the world.
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Waterfront Pattaya piling complete
Waterfront Suite and Residence.
Luxury Property Developer Tulip Group have announced that piling on their
super luxury iconic mixed use development Waterfront Suites and Residences
has been completed on schedule.
The 50 Storey building located at Bali Hai pier next to the famous “Pattaya”
neon sign is set to become a landmark in Pattaya upon completion in 2015.
The project is a joint partnership with Tulip Group and Park Plaza Hotels
Europe (PPHE), a public limited company on the London Stock market with
hotels across the United Kingdom, The Netherlands and Germany, with further
properties in Israel, Hungary and Croatia. Hotels are located mainly in
major gateway cities and regional centers, predominantly in Europe’s most
appealing and cosmopolitan destinations. PPHE portfolio comprises 39 hotels
offering a total of 8,340 rooms. PPHE will manage the project upon
completion.
Tulip confirmed also that Lockbuild have been awarded the main building
contract and had entered the site one month ago to oversee the completion of
the piling.
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Thai airports service 74 million passengers last year
More than 74 million passengers passed through six airports in Thailand last
year, a 12 percent increase from the previous year, the Airports of Thailand
(AoT) reported.
Somchai Sawasdeepon, AoT Senior Executive Vice President of Engineering and
Construction and Acting President, said 46 million passengers were non-Thais
while 496,749 flights - 275,422 of them international - landed at the six
airports, representing a 10.5 percent growth.
The six airports are Suvarnabhumi, Dong Mueang, Chiang Mai, Hat Yai, Phuket
and Chiang Rai.
Suvarnabhumi airport alone received 51.462 million passengers and 312,493
flights last year.
As for the Phase 2 expansion of Suvarnabhumi airport under the 2011-2017
development budget, Somchai said the AoT has already hired a consultant
firm, EPM Consortium, to map out conditions for a bid on the design while
the winning company should be announced in April.
The designs, which will take 10 months, between May and February next year,
will involve three major projects: the passenger buildings, public utilities
system and construction, he said, adding that the contractors and
construction inspectors should be hired in August next year.
Somchai said Phuket airport will have the capacity of servicing 12.5 million
passengers when the four-year expansion completes in 2014. Its current
service capacity is 6.5 million passengers.
He added that the improvement of Don Mueang airport will include the
Terminal 2 passenger building, the concourse building 5, the seven-storey
parking building, communications system and public utilities system.
The expansion will boost Don Mueang’s capability to 27.5 million passengers
which would be adequate until 2026, he said. (MCOT)
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Cabinet to discuss assistance measures for smaller industries
A “relief package” to help smaller enterprises impacted by the nationwide
minimum wage hike to Bt300 will be tabled to the cabinet, according to
Labour Minister Phadermchai Sasomsub.
He said the proposed measures which were wrapped up by economic-related
ministries - finance, labor, commerce and industry - include a reduction of
the withholding tax from 3 percent to 2 percent for small- and medium-sized
enterprises and allocation of budget to the Skill Development Department to
set up “mobile clinics” to train unemployed or unskilled workers for local
industries.
The lower withholding tax will cost the government Bt20 billion, he said,
adding that the already-announced reduction of corporate income tax to 20
percent will help boost entrepreneurs’ revenue. The state currently earns
Bt60-70 billion from the collection of withholding tax each year.
Other measures include a reduction of fees collected from provincial hotels
and resorts from Bt80 per room to Bt40 per room, additional budget for state
agencies to hold seminars at provincial venues to spur the economy at
tourist attractions, and the Commerce Ministry’s activation of its mobile
units to sell goods at cheaper prices to people especially workers at
factories.
He admitted that the minimum wage increase will force more businesses to
close down, but boosts workers’ purchasing power.
Phadermchai said the closure of Veena Garment, which resulted in 287 workers
losing their jobs, was a consequence of the European crisis because the
company mainly exported underwear garments to Europe.
Export orders had been exhausted since 2010 and it was unrelated to the
minimum wage increase, he said. (MCOT)
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