Govt takes investment roadshow to Japan

Economy tsar and Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, seen here at a Jan 4 contract signing for the Pink and Yellow monorail lines, will lead a new investment roadshow to Japan beginning on Jan 30. (File photo by Pornprom Satrabhaya)

The government will hold its first roadshow in Japan's Kansai, Osaka and Kobe from Jan 30 to Feb 2 to attract investors, according to Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak.

He said Kansai and Osaka are important industrial zones in Japan specialising in electronics and medical devices, which are emerging domestic manufacturing sectors.

In addition, Osaka governor Ichiro Matsui will lead a group of Japanese high technology investors on a visit to Thailand and the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) next month, he said.

Japanese applications to the Thailand Board of Investment (BOI) support programme in 2017 accounted for 238 projects and 89.7 billion baht in investment. The total from 2018 has yet to be calculated.

Mr Somkid also said the chief executive of Hong Kong, Carrie Lam, will visit Thailand this Feb to open an Economic and Trade Office office in Bangkok.

On Ms Lam's last visit in May, the two countries agreed on a number of joint initiatives -- in particular, a move to give Thailand more access to Hong Kong as a route to the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA).

The GBA is a Chinese government scheme to link nine cities in the coastal province of Guangdong -- Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Zhuhai, Foshan, Zhongshan, Dongguan, Huizhou, Jiangmen and Zhaoqing -- with Hong Kong and Macao in a move to establish a new business hub.

Mr Somkid said Thailand and Hong Kong agreed to jointly develop closer economic ties between the GBA and Thailand, which will also serve as a gateway for Chinese investors to reach the Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand (CLMVT) axis.

He said the first meeting between Chinese and Japanese investors about cooperating to invest in other countries will be held in Thailand this March.

"The event will be an important opportunity for investment in Thailand and the region because Thailand is the first location of this meeting," he said.

The BOI also plans to inaugurate an annual seminar this March to focus on the role of Thailand as a link to the CLMVT countries, in a further potential boost to development, he said.