World Food Valley Thailand to be developed in few years

BANGKOK, September 19 (TNA) - Thailand's National Food Institute (NFI), in cooperation with its allied agencies, plans to develop a global innovative food center in the country for the first time over the next few years, named the World Food Valley Thailand. NFI signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) on the plan with the SME Development Bank of Thailand (SME Bank), the Office of Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion (OSMEP) and private-run Singha Corporation Co., Ltd. in Bangkok on Monday. Under the plan, an area of about 520 acres of Singha Corporation Co., Ltd. in Thailand's central Ang Thong (อ่างทอง) Province will be developed into the first-ever comprehensive future-oriented food innovative city in the country and in the ASEAN Community (AC). Initially, the joint plan is expected to have a clear picture in terms of its eco-industrial operational framework by next year, paving the way for its construction over the next three years. Meanwhile, Thai Industry Minister Atchaka Sibunruang (อรรชกา สีบุญเรือง) told journalists that the World Food Valley Thailand development project is part of her ministry's 4.0 policy and the government's Thailand 4.0 policy in order to raise the Thai Kingdom's status from a middle-income nation with per capital income of 5,000 US dollars annually to as double as 10,000 US dollars yearly through value-added consumer-centered innovative products with high quality in order to support the Thai Kingdom to be on the world's top five food exporting list over the next two decades. (TNA)