Thailand expects more Japanese FDI projects in 2019

BANGKOK, December 19 (TNA) - The Thai Ministry of Industry says it is likely that there will be more direct investment projects (FDI) from Japan next year, thanks to sound cooperation between the Thai and the Japanese governments. Kobchai Sungsitthisawad, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Industrial Promotion, voiced the assessment in Bangkok on December 18 when he opened a business seminar, organized as part of a pilot project on building up the capacity of emerging industrialists in member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN). Kobchai stated that official statistics show Japanese FDI projects were top of the list in the first half of this year at 135 projects, worth about 22.28 billion baht, accounting for 32 per cent of total FDI projects that applied for promotional privileges from the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI). Kobchai acknowledged that the Thai government, through his ministry, has signed an agreement with the Japanese Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry (METI) on their cooperation on trade, investment and production supply chains between Japan and Thailand. Kobchai revealed that the cooperation agreement also covers the development of the Thai industry towards the 4.0 status under the theme of "3 Rocket Approach for SMEs", under which Thai industrialists running small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) are supported for the appropriate use of robots and automation systems in their production of goods and services. Besides, his department has agreed to cooperate with the SME Support, Japan (SMRJ) on the exchange of information and the development of human resources to support Thai and Japanese SMEs, including a joint move on supporting SMEs of both countries to be part of global value-added supply chains through the Digital Platform B2B, called "T-GoodTech", its website, [www.tgoodtech.com], of which has been accessible by about 3,800 member SMEs so far. According to the senior Thai official, his department has also agreed to work together with 19 Japanese prefectures on the development of industries under the "Otagai" concept, aimed to form the networking between Thai business operators and their counterparts in the 19 Japanese targeted areas. (TNA)