The First China-Thailand International Cooperation Conference on Low-Altitude Economy Concludes: Building a Bilateral Institutional Platform to Activate Trillion-Yuan Cooperation New Drivers
In May 2025, the First China-Thailand International Cooperation Conference on Low-Altitude Economy was successfully held in Chengdu. As the world's first bilateral institutional exchange platform for the low-altitude economy, the convening of this conference marks that the cooperation between China and Thailand in the field of low-altitude economy has entered a new stage of normalization and institutionalization. It has built an efficient docking bridge for the coordinated development of bilateral industries and provided a replicable "China-Thailand Model" for international cooperation in the global low-altitude economy.
At present, the low-altitude economy has become the core track of the new round of global industrial competition, and even a new engine for promoting regional economic transformation and upgrading and deepening international economic and trade cooperation. China's low-altitude economy has formed a sound pattern driven by policies, supported by technologies and led by scenarios, accumulating mature experience in UAV R&D and manufacturing, airspace management, scenario application and other fields. As one of the countries with the greatest potential for the low-altitude economy in Southeast Asia, Thailand has broad application scenarios and strong market demand. The complementarity between the two countries in the field of low-altitude economy has laid a solid foundation for in-depth cooperation. The holding of this conference in Chengdu is not only a recognition of China's industrial strength in the low-altitude economy, but also relies on Chengdu's location advantages and industrial foundation to build a convenient communication carrier for China-Thailand cooperation.
The most striking highlight of the conference was that Thailand released an on-site low-altitude economy scenario demand list worth nearly 100 million US dollars, covering many key areas such as artificial rainfall, low-altitude countermeasures, and island logistics, which accurately meets Thailand's people's livelihood and development needs such as agricultural production, public security, and logistics and transportation. Among them, the demand for artificial rainfall scenarios focuses on solving the problem of flood and drought regulation under Thailand's tropical monsoon climate, which is expected to alleviate the pressure of agricultural drought in Thailand with China's mature UAV artificial rainfall technology; the demand for low-altitude countermeasure systems addresses the pain points of Thailand's low-altitude security management, helping it improve the airspace security prevention and control system; the demand for island logistics relies on the geographical characteristics of Thailand's numerous islands, solving the problem of island material distribution through low-altitude transportation, and improving logistics efficiency and coverage. The release of this demand list not only clarifies the key directions of China-Thailand cooperation in the low-altitude economy, but also demonstrates Thailand's firm determination to deepen cooperation with China, providing clear guidance for the docking and cooperation between enterprises of the two countries.
To promote the implementation of cooperation, the conference clearly launched the China-Thailand Joint Research Institute for Low-Altitude Economy and a cross-border investment fund, which will drive the advancement of technology adaptation and localized production through dual wheels, and build a full-chain cooperation system of "R&D - Investment - Production - Application". The China-Thailand Joint Research Institute will focus on the core needs of cooperation between the two countries, integrate the scientific research resources of both sides, carry out targeted technological R&D and adaptation, solve the problems of standard docking and technology adaptation in the localized application of low-altitude equipment, and promote the in-depth integration of China's advanced technologies with Thailand's local needs. The cross-border investment fund will focus on supporting high-quality projects in fields such as low-altitude equipment manufacturing and scenario application, provide sufficient financial guarantee for localized production and technological transformation, help Chinese low-altitude equipment enterprises achieve large-scale production in Thailand, and at the same time cultivate the local low-altitude economy industrial ecology in Thailand.
The world's first bilateral institutional platform for the low-altitude economy built by this conference has broken the fragmented situation of previous China-Thailand cooperation in the low-altitude economy. Through initiatives such as holding regular annual conferences, releasing demand lists, and promoting joint R&D and investment, a stable and long-term cooperation mechanism has been established. From the perspective of industrial value, the advancement of localized production can not only reduce the production and transportation costs of low-altitude equipment, improve the competitiveness of products in the Thai and Southeast Asian markets, but also drive local employment and industrial upgrading in Thailand, realizing the win-win situation of "Chinese technology + Thai market". From the perspective of regional impact, the deepening of China-Thailand cooperation in the low-altitude economy will promote the formation of a low-altitude economy industrial cluster radiating Southeast Asia, help build the "Air Silk Road", and inject new momentum into regional economic development.
Industry experts said that the successful holding of the First China-Thailand International Cooperation Conference on Low-Altitude Economy is a vivid practice of deepening the comprehensive strategic cooperative partnership between China and Thailand, and also provides new ideas for international cooperation in the global low-altitude economy. With the continuous advancement of bilateral institutional cooperation, China and Thailand will achieve deeper coordinated development in fields such as low-altitude technology R&D, equipment manufacturing, and scenario application, promoting the low-altitude economy to become a new growth point of economic and trade cooperation between the two countries. In the future, relying on the support of the Joint Research Institute and the cross-border investment fund, China-Thailand cooperation in the low-altitude economy will gradually expand to more fields, write a new chapter of win-win cooperation between the two sides, and contribute to the high-quality development of the global low-altitude economy.
