The Royal Thai Government through the Department of Export Promotion, Ministry of Commerce, is getting ready to present the PM Award 2004--the top honorary award of the Thai export industry--to the Thai manufacturers and service providers who produce and export their products and services with own design to serve the world markets. This year, the award will go to twenty-six companies while eighteen more will walk up the stage to get the special Honorary Recognition Award for their best effort spent in maintaining their product/service quality to meet the world standard. Another eight companies under the OTOP export umbrella will be given the same honor for their top quality products and services. Presided over the presentation ceremony to be at the Santimaitree Building on Monday August 23, 2004 will be H.E. Pol. Lt. Col. Thaksin Shinawatra, the prime minister . The event will be warmly received by the diplomats, the politicians, the government officials, the Thai exporters, and many distinguished guests.

The Prime Minister's Export Award or PM Award presented to the best exporters and service providers of the year is the government's top award to guarantee top quality of the Thai products and services in the world markets. The award was initiated in 1992 by H.E. Anand Punyarachun, the former prime minister of Thailand, to support Thai exporters with own brand name and design, and to create positive corporate image for those that take part in the national export promotion scheme. The government has presented the awards to the best exporters since 1992 to honor them for their work well done.

In 2004, the PM Award still falls into 5 categories with as many awards as twenty-six: four for Best Exporter, nine for Thai Owned Brand, four for Thai Owned Design, five for Service Provider, and four for Most Recognized Service.

Besides, as this year marks the tenth anniversary of the Best Exporter award, the Department of Export Promotion has included the Exporter Honorary Recognition Award to be presented to eighteen previous-year best exporters who have maintain their product/service quality. OTOP Export Recognition Award is also another new category that will go to eight OTOP companies to give them encouragement in boosting export sales of their local products.

The PM Award 2004 Presentation Ceremony will be held on Monday August 23, 2004 at 14.00 hours at Santimaitree Building. The venue will be nicely decorated in the Gold-White color shades under the theme "A Golden Decade of Pride and Prestige". The Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will preside over the ceremony and present the awards to all award winners. Witnessing this memorable event and congratulating all award winners will be the diplomats, the politicians, the government officials, the Thai exporters and many distinguished guests.

The PM Award is a program that lends support to local manufacturers and business enterprises who have their own brand names. To date, the scheme has successfully promoted the national export sales volume through continuous product design and quality development. It would not be too much to say that the factor behind the success is the effort the Department of Export Promotion spent in each and every job under their control.