DPM:Thailand is ready to become "regional connector"

SHANGHAI, CHINA, November 6 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has announced that Thailand is ready and pleased to become a "regional connector" for enhanced trade and investment connectivity in Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia. Somkid, who is leading a Thai business delegation to visit China during November 3-8 for a roadshow on the sound investment prospect in Thailand, especially in the Thai government-supported Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) Project, made the announcement while delivering a keynote speech at the International Economic and Trade Forum, held in Shanghai on November 5, in which international investors and representatives of large-scaled private firms, as well as international decision makers participated to exchange their visions on the changing global trade and economic direction and Geoeconomics in the wake of the launch of China's Belt and Road Initiative (BRI), also known as the One Belt One Road or the Silk Road Economic Belt strategy, announced by Chinese President Xi Jinping. Somkid, who oversees economic affairs in the Thai administration, mentioned that it is now the "Asia Century" as it is considered a golden period for growing Asian economies, driven mainly by China's BRI, and the Thai economy is ready and pleased to, thus, play the "regional connector" role towards the enhanced regional connectivity, thanks to the country's strategic location as a regional center through which the Northern Economic Corridor (NEC), the Southern Economic Corridor (SEC) and the East-West Economic Corridor (EWEC) in the Greater Mekong Sub-region (GMS) pass and Southeast Asia, Northeast Asia and South Asia converge. Besides, the ACMECS Master Plan, endorsed by member countries of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) bloc, at its 8th summit, hosted by Thailand in June 2018, could support the Thai Kingdom's regional connector role towards the three common goals of security, wealth and sustainability among the member countries that comprise of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, which all are also member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and, if China included, are also member countries of GMS. The Thai deputy prime minister acknowledged that China could support Cambodia, Lao PDR, Myanmar, Vietnam and Thailand, also called the CLMVT group, to concretely achieve the three goals by working with Thailand, which will take its ASEAN chairmanship for 2019 later this month, and by connecting Beijing's Pan Pearl River Delta (PPRD) economic triangles, covering Hong Kong, Macao and Guangdong, with the CLMVT group. "So, Thailand would like to invite all potential economies in the regions to become the Kingdom's development partners to jointly move towards the three common goals of security, wealth and sustainability in the future", said the Thai deputy premier. According to the Thai deputy prime minister, the Thai government is strengthening and upgrading the national economy towards the advanced digital economy through its Thailand 4.0 Policy to also elevate the country to become a high income nation with security, wealth and sustainability beneficial to the Thai people, none of whom will be left behind. The Thai deputy premier pointed out that the Thai economy has been well-recovering, from a 0.9 per cent year-on-year growth on average in 2014 to 4.8 per cent year-on-year growth on average in the first half of this year, and is likely to achieve a growth rate higher than an earlier target in 2018, boosted by expanding Thai exports and the administration's new mega-infrastructure investment projects nationwide. "Multinational firms are welcome to relocate their new investment projects to Thailand, where applications for official incentive measures have increased triple over the past couple of years to reach about 21 billion US dollars this year. International investors are particularly invited to invest in the Thai government-supported EEC Project, where approved plans have reached 822 so far, worth about 20 billion US dollars out of the officially-target of about 50 billion US dollars in the coming years", the Thai deputy prime minister stated. (TNA)