Experts worried about lack of digital skills in Thailand

Nipon said the country had not been able to produce enough graduates with skills in digital and related fields.

The hype over Chinese e-commerce giant Alibaba's US$300mil (RM1.1bil) investment in Thailand, and its huge Tmall online platform has only masked the country's fundamental weaknesses in embracing the digital technology for economic and social benefits, according to experts.

Even though there were as many as 60,000 online orders for Thai durians in one day on Tmall, which covers the huge Chinese market of 1.4 billion consumers, when the investment announcement was made last week, critics said it was unclear whether Thai durian growers and other farmers would gain from Alibaba's bigger presence in Thailand.