Yingluck invites Chinese firms to invest in Thailand

BANGKOK, March 15 (TNA) - Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra has invited Chinese firms to expand their investment into Thailand, pointing out the Thai economy's promising prospect and long-standing relations between the two nations. Yingluck made the remarks during a meeting with a visiting delegation from China Association for International Friendly Contracts (CAIFC) at Bangkok's Government House on Wednesday. During the meeting, Yingluck told the Chinese delegation, who is visiting Bangkok to promote friendly ties between the two countries, that the Thai government has a policy to promote Chinese investment in Thailand’s industrial, agricultural and infrastructure sectors. Yingluck said that Thailand’s gross domestic product (GDP) growth in 2012 is expected to be at 5.5-6.5 per cent, and that Thailand holds a strategic location in the Southeast Asian region. With her government’s ongoing support for logistics infrastructure development, the prime minister acknowledged that Thailand can serve as a bridge connecting China and Laos. The Pheu Thai premier also told the Chinese delegation that her administration has allocated some 28 billion baht state budget for rehabilitation plans, in the wake of Thailand's flooding crisis late last year, and for long-term infrastructure development plans. Praising long-standing ties between Beijing and Bangkok, the CAIFC president, meanwhile, said bilateral cooperation has expanded to cover such areas as trade, investment, agriculture, rail and water technologies and basic infrastructure, extending a warm welcome for the Thai premier, who is scheduled to pay an official visit to China in mid April, and praising her determination to get Thailand through a massive flooding in late 2011. During their meeting, the Thai premier and the Chinese delegation also agreed to further enhance bilateral trade volume between China and Thailand by 20 per cent and to achieve a 15 per cent growth in the tourism sector of the two countries over the next five years. (TNA)