Thailand, Japan jointly prepare for AEC

BANGKOK, February 3 (TNA) - The Japan-Thailand Joint Trade and Economic Committee and the Thai Ministry of Industry are jointly preparing for the formation of the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) by the end of this year. A visiting delegation of the Japan-Thailand Joint Trade and Economic Committee, led by its chairman, Eizo Kobayashi, discussed the joint preparation for AEC at a meeting with Thai Industry Minister Chakramon Phasukvanich in Bangkok on Tuesday, along with other issues, namely bilateral ties between Bangkok and Tokyo in infrastructure development, investment and environment projects. The delegation also inquired about the Thai government's policy on promoting and supporting international business operators and preparating for the AEC. Chakramon told journalists that the Japanese delegation wants changes to the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI)'s new promotional privilege criteria, which has taken effect since January 1, 2015, aimed at enhancing Thailand's competitiveness on global stages, saying that Japan will propose the changes within March 2015. Chakramon viewed that Thailand remains attractive to Japanese investors, as the Thai economy is the second largest in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), after only Indonesia, and when the country is part of AEC, it will upsize from a market of some 60 million consumers to about 600 million consumers. Besides, Thailand's infrastructures and population size continues to interest Japanese investors. According to the industry minister, the Japanese government is encouraging 10,000 small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) to invest overseas and last year, Japanese operators invested more than 200 billion baht in Thailand alone. The industry minister foresaw that about 500 Japanese SMEs should invest in Thailand this year and if each of them arrived with some 500-million-baht investment fund, about 25 billion baht should flow into the Thai economy this year. (TNA)