Investment/SUBCON

Chatrudee Theparat

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin is confident Thailand has potential to become a supply chain hub of Asean.

Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin

Mr Settha spoke at the opening ceremony of the SUBCON Thailand 2024 which he presided over the event. It will be organized between May 15 and 18, 2024 at Bangkok International Trade & Exhibition Centre (BITEC).

The Board of Investment (BoI) expected the event to attract 9, 000 business matchings among Thai entrepreneurs and global supply chain, along with a purchase of more than 20 billion baht in value during the event.

Clearly, he said the government has given a strong support to Thai parts manufacturers or Thai supply chains to play a key role in the global supply chain.

“Thailand is outstanding in the automobile and electronics industry. The Thai government is currently to develop electrical vehicles (EVs), based on the current automobile production base.”

Japanese investors are among the key groups in Thailand, which they have poured trillions baht in manufacturing investment here.

The Thai government has designed promotional privileges to assist current automotive manufacturers and parts to transform from combustion vehicles to EVs. The government also introduced a policy EV 3.5 that will support continued investment in both EVs and its supply chain.

He said Thailand is in a good position to drive foreign investment, with six supporting factors as follows:

The first is geopolitics problems, currently many areas globally are facing the problem of war and drastic conflict. Thailand is a country that has a neutral stance without any conflict to other countries. Then Thailand is considered quite attractive among companies all over the world.

One of the key projects to hellp strengthen the Thai position, he said it is the Land Bridge project with projected investment of US$300 billion because It is an important commercial transportation option. It will help strengthen the Thai production base and Thailand's neutral position on the world stage which is considered to help serve investors' demand around the world.

“This project will strengthen Thailand as Switzerland of Asia and create confidence among investors. Therefore, the investment in the Land bridges is more important than the purchase of submarines and fighter aircrafts.”

The second is Thailand has launched measures to support clean energy. By 2040, clean energy will account for 50% of the country's total electricity production.

Data center needs clean energy and also demand of clean energy is needed in the supply chain industry. Large-scale companies are urged to support small companies to use clean energy as well.

The third is about international trade negotiations or “ FTA”, Thai government continues FTA negotiation. Recently, the government signed memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Sri Lanka.

Furthermore,, Thai government will negotiate with the European Union ( EU). Also it will accelerate the FTA negotiation with the Middle East in order to meet investors' demand.

The fourth is Thailand has many outstanding factors including good quality of life, international schools, good public health system offering leading hospitals. The government will speed up to remove barriers in doing business to facilitate investors and also launch a full scale of the national single window (NSW).

The fifth is the government has paid attention to support Thai parts manufacturers or Thai supply chains to play a rising role in global arena.

The sixth is Thailand has a complete infrastructure like airport, highways, rail system and deep seaport to create connectivity together for easy travel both people and goods.

The government will accelerate the development of the third phase of the Laem Chabang Deep Saeport as soon as possible. The project is one of the infrastructure flagships of the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).