Thailand believed to become Japan's production base in long run

BANGKOK, July 6 (TNA) - The government's new investment incentives, through the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), are believed to sustain the Thai economy as a regional production base of Japanese investors in the long run. BOI Secretary-General Hirunya Suchinai expressed the confidence while delivering her speech at a seminar in Bangkok on Monday, themed "Post-ASEAN Community Business Strategies: Thailand, a Key Manufacturing Base for Japanese Investors.” Hirunya pointed out that the Thai government's policy on the development of special border economic zones will certainly provide new business opportunities to Japanese investors because the new Thai special border economic zones also stand along an economic line of the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) where Japanese investors can also access to factors of production and benefit from future connectivity between production bases in Thailand and other neighbouring countries the region. Under the new policy, Hirunya revealed, BOI's promotional privileges will be given to projects in new industrial clusters which match a new investment direction of leading investors in several countries, particularly those in Japan, including research and development (R&D) high-tech manufacturing, innovations, value-added national resources, environmentally-friendly businesses and international business centres. Meanwhile, Industry Minister Chakramon Pasukvanich told journalists that Japan remained the top foreign investing country in Thailand during the first five months of this year with its total investment value of over 50 billion baht, followed by the United States with its total investment value of about 20 billion baht. According to the industry minister, although foreign investment in Thailand has slowed down so far this year, compared to that of the corresponding period of last year, due to BOI's outgoing present promotional policy, set to be ended late this year, international investment projects having sought BOI's promotional privileges have reached 2 trillion baht so far this year. (TNA)