President's Message
As the current president of the MDC organization, it is an honor for me to welcome you to the 29th Mint Directors Conference in theoutstanding Thailand, a country rich in culture, natural diversity, and abounding adventures.

The Conference has distinguished itself for being one of a kind and celebrates the union and collaboration between our mints, special members and associate members. Currently, we are forty-eight mints working with common goals and every year we held meetings and reunions to exchange valuable information related to all monetary matters.

Last year the theme of the 28th conference held in Mexico was "Shining the Future" where the main objective was to give us a common goal to generate an improved industry; this year The Royal Thai Mint proudly represented by Mr. Chakkrit Parapuntakul, brings us the theme of "Change, Challenge, Opportunity" to prepare us to face the upcoming dares in our industry which I am certain will bring an immense value into the research of the minting study.

I wish all the participants a rewarding conference week and that this edition of the Mint Directors Conference delivers us the tools to overcome and exceed positively the challenges in front of us.

Guillermo Hopkins
CEO Casa de Moneda de Mexicol

The Royal Thai Mint
The Royal Thai Mint was established in 1860, under the Royal Decree of King Rama IV, in the Grand Palace. It was named the "Sitthikarn Mint".

In order to increase production capacity to meet the increasing demand of coins, in 1875 King Rama V ordered a new efficient machine from England and the construction of the 2nd Mint in the Grand Palace, opposite the old Mint.

In 1902 King Rama V ordered the 3rd Mint to be built on Chao Fah road, beside Klong Lod to accommodate the continually expanding economy.

Later in 1930, during the reign of King Rama VII, the Sitthikarn Mint Department was demoted to a factory under the Royal Opium Department due to the worldwide economic recession. In 1933 the "Mint Section" was reopened under the Royal Treasury Department to produce coins, and later it became a division of the Treasury Department, Ministry of Finance.

In order to increase the coin production capacity to meet the demand of the economic system, in 1972 the 4th Mint was built off Pradiphat road. This new Mint was able to produce about 750 million coins per year.

The construction of the present Mint began in 1996 in an area of 50.4 acres at the 34th-35th kilometer on Phahonyothin road in Phatum Thani province. The building was completed and officially opened on July 2, 2003.

For more information, see:
http://www.mdc2016.com/