ID :
340776
Wed, 09/10/2014 - 11:42
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Thailand, Japan's Aichi Prefecture to jointly develop SMEs

BANGKOK, September 10 ( TNA) - The local government of Japan's Aichi Prefecture and the Thai government, through the Ministry of Industry's Department of Industrial Promotion, have signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on joint development of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). Visiting Aichi Governor Hideaki Omura said that the MOU, signed in Bangkok on Wednesday, should encourage SMEs in Thailand and Aichi to cooperate more with each other, as Thailand is a good investment destination for international investors and the country's gross domestic product (GDP) per capita and domestic consumption have kept expanding. Omura pointed out that 284 companies from Aichi have operated 416 factories in Thailand, as Japan sees plenty of business opportunities because Thailand is a center of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) will be formed by 2015. Omura acknowledged that surveys showed investors in Aichi considered Thailand as their most favorable destination, especially large-scaled investment projects, calling on the Thai government to, thus, create a promising atmosphere for international investors. Omura revealed that Aichi has opened its overseas industrial information center in Thailand, its first overseas center in 10 years, with a hope that the center should further facilitate Aichi investment in Thailand. Atchaka Sribunruang, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Industrial Promotion, told journalists that Aichi is Japan's 6th local government to have inked such the MOU with the Thai Ministry of Industry. Atchaka foresaw that four more Japanese prefectures should follow suit by the end of this year, raising the number of local Japanese governments cooperating with the Thai ministry to 10. Aichi is a Japanese central prefecture and metropolis, smaller only to Osaka and Tokyo, where there are automobile, aviation, textile and ceramic industries, including Toyota Motor Corp, and the biggest aircraft parts production base. (TNA)

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