Thai business persons backed to invest in ASEAN

BANGKOK, September 25 (TNA) - The Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) has supported Thai business operators to invest in neighbouring countries in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), especially Vietnam. Director of the BOI’s Thai Overseas Investment Promotion Division Siriporn Nurugsa told a seminar on Wednesday that the BOI is supporting Thai business operators to invest more in Indonesia, Myanmar, Vietnam and Cambodia ahead of the integration of the 10-member ASEAN into a single market and production base. Siriporn suggested that Vietnam has particularly become attractive for foreign investors due to its political stability, investment incentives and low labour costs. Siriporn noted that Vietnam offers good opportunities for foreign investors, including those from Thailand, citing its abundant natural resource, low labour costs, political stability and favourable legal environment, namely its reduced corporate income tax and land use fee. The BOI senior official acknowledged that Thai goods have good images in terms of high quality products among Vietnamese consumers. Thailand was also on the top ten list of foreign investors in Vietnam last year. Over half, or 53 per cent, of foreign direct investment (FDI) projects in Vietnam have been in local manufacturing and processing industries. Vietnam's major exports include clothes, textile and garment products, crude oil, rice, seafood, shoes, electronic parts, with the United States, the European Union (EU), ASEAN, China and Japan being its key overseas markets. The BOI senior official disseminated the information at the seminar, entitled “Thailand-Vietnam Strategic Partnership: Towards a New Era of Economic Relations”, held in Bangkok. (TNA)