Thailand woos Chinese investment

BEIJING, CHINA, August 9 (TNA) - Industry Minister M.R. Pongsvas Svasti is leading a Thai delegation, including executives of the Ministry of Industry and the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), to visit China's two major cities, Beijing and Shanghai, from August 8-11 to draw more Chinese investment into Thailand. As part of the Thai mission, the BOI and the Bank of China organized a seminar on investment environment and opportunities in Beijing Thursday, which drew over 250 Chinese investors. Speaking at the session, M.R. Pongsvas invited Chinese business operators to expand their investment projects into Thailand, saying that China had invested 200 million US dollars in Thailand during the first half of this year, on top of its 900-million-US dollars-investment in the Thai economy throughout last year, making China be the fourth largest investing country in Thailand so far. M.R. Pongsvas acknowledged if Chinese major auto firms, namely SAIC Motor Corp and Great Wall Motor Co., invested about 10 billion baht in Thailand later this year, China would become the second largest investing country in Thailand. The Thai industry minister also encouraged China to invest in advanced chemical and farm product processing industries in the Thai economy, as Thailand and China plan to boost the value of their mutual trade and investment to 100 billion US dollars over the next five years. According to the Thai industry minister, Thailand has been the world's 15th largest automobile producer, with the country's auto production reaching 1.45 million vehicles alone last year. The industry minister indicated that Thailand is now emerging among the world's top ten largest automobile producers, as the country plans to increase its annual vehicle production to two million units this year and 2.6 million units next year. (TNA)