Chinese business giants eye to invest in Thailand

HONG KONG, April 27 (TNA) - At least two more Chinese business giants have shown their interest in investing in Thailand. Vice Minister Attached to the Prime Minister's Office Kobsak Pootrakool told journalists of the update, following meetings between a visiting Thai delegation and leading business firms in Hong Kong on April 26. Kobsak, who is a delegate accompanying Thai Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak during his ongoing April 26-29 trip to Hong Kong, said that China Merchant Group, which plays a key role to materialize Beijing's One Belt One Road Policy, and Hybrid Kinetic, a major manufacturer of electric vehicles and lithium batteries, expressed their interest in expanding their investment projects in the Thai economy, including in the Thai government-supported Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and the Laem Chabang Deep Seaport Development Project, Phase 3, in the eastern seaside Chon Buri Province. Kobsak revealed that China Merchant Group is a business giant running logistics services in 48 ports of 20 countries worldwide, as well as operating the 5th largest financial firm in China, together with property and business consulting firms. Hybrid Kinetic, on the other hand, has opened its branch offices in Shanghai and Jiangsu Province, as well as has established a 295-million-US dollar- joint venture with Anhui Jianghuai Automobile in China's Hebei Province to produce environmentally-friendly vehicles, including electric buses and extended range cars, as well as linear tape-open (LTO), a magnetic tape data storage technology, BMS electric motors, battery modules, battery boxes and graphene, a component for projectors, electric circuits, solar cells and medical equipment. Hybrid Kinetic also operate financial services. According to the vice minister, the Thai deputy prime minister is also scheduled to lead his team to hold separate talks with other leading business firms and to meet a group of investors in in Hong Kong to brief them on investment incentives provided by the Thai government, especially those in EEC. The Thai deputy prime minister, who oversees economic affairs, will lead his team back home on April 29. (TNA)