Thai private sector backed to expand investment into ASEAN

BANGKOK, October 7 (TNA) - Thai private business operators have been supported to expand their investment into fellow member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), paving the way for Thailand to become an economic hub in the region. The AEC+3 Summit & Expo 2014 will, thus, be jointly organised by Kasikornbank (KBank), the Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion, the Ministry of Industry's Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI) and The Economist Magazine in Bangkok on November 3. A seminar of AEC-level business executives, a matching of some 500 ASEAN business firms, with their combined business value of about 6 billion baht, as well as expected financial cooperation deals of over 30 enterprises and personnel development deals will be included in the AEC+3 Summit & Expo 2014. KBank President Teeranan Srihong told journalists on Tuesday, meanwhile, that the overall Southeast Asian economy will become stronger after the formation of the AEC by the end of 2015, as the AEC, with its combined population of about 600 million, will become the third largest market in the world. Teeranan pointed out that medium-sized consumers in Asia will account for about half of the world’s total population within 2020 and it is projected that the overall AEC economy should grow by 7 per cent on average annually. Besides, AEC members have also closely cooperated with three leading Asian economies, including China, Japan and South Korea, whose direct investment in ASEAN soared to 21 billion US dollars in 2012 from just 3.4 billion US dollars in 2004. According to the KBank president, direct investment from the three leading Asian countries in ASEAN during the first four months of this year alone totaled 53 per cent out of the total investment value in ASEAN. Captain Suwiphan Ditsayamonthon, Deputy Director-General of the Ministry of Commerce's Department of International Trade Promotion, stated that trade value between Thailand and fellow ASEAN members plus China, Japan and South Korea rose to 3.7 trillion baht during the first eight months this year, assessing that Thai exports should further grow after the formation of the AEC. (TNA)