DPM woos French investors to Thailand

BANGKOK, October 7 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who oversees economic affairs, is leading a Thai delegation to visit France during October 4-8 to invite leading French firms to expand their investment in Thailand, especially small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs). In France, Somkid and his entourage first met with representatives of France’s largest employers council, in which 750,000 French companies are members and 90 per cent of them are SMEs. As the Thai government is implementing Thailand 4.0 innovative policy, under which SMEs 4.0 is a part, and the French largest employers' body has a policy on supporting its members to invest in overseas economies, executives of several French SMEs met and held talks with the Thai delegation. During the talks, executives of Michelin, the world's second largest manufacturer of automobile, truck and aircraft tyres, said their company is ready to expand its investment to Thailand by 500 million Euro over the next five years, as Thailand is developing a para rubber industry hub in Hat Yai of the southern Songkhla Province. The Thai delegation also invited Airbus Group to become a partner of Thai Airways International (THAI), the national flag carrier, and Rolls Royce in a mega-aviation development project, as the Thai government is developing U Ta Pao Airport to be an aviation hub in the Thai East. Besides, France’s high-tech auto parts manufacturing cluster eyes to expand its investment bases in Asia and the Thai government is, thus, negotiating with them for further cooperation. After the deputy prime minister's ongoing five-day trip to Europe, the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) is assigned to report the new investment prospect in targeted industries, including biotechnology, information technology (IT), healthcare and aviation, to Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha next week. (TNA)