Speaking to 500 investors in Shanghai yesterday at an investment conference titled “Thailand: Moving Forward to Sustainable Growth”, organised by the Board of Investment (BOI) of Thailand and the China Council for the Promotion of International Trade, Somkid acknowledged that Thailand had faced political problems over the past decade, but insisted that tensions would be reduced by mid-2017.

In preparation for the expected rebound in the Kingdom’s fortunes, the government is spending more than Bt100 billion on infrastructure development along with restructuring the economic system, he said.

It has also mapped out an economic master plan to meet the challenges presented by the implementation of the Asean Economic Community, and to ensure that Thailand benefits from the opportunities arising from the emerging economic growth in the CLMV (Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam) markets, he added.

He told the conference that now was therefore a good time for Chinese investors to expand their investment and business into Southeast Asia, using Thailand as the main gateway into the region.

“I would like to invite Chinese investors to partner with Thailand during this period of great economic reform,” he said.

He assured investors at the conference that the government would continue to invest in mega-projects over the next five years covering physical infrastructure such as high-speed trains, deep-sea ports, marine transport and commercial airports.

Meanwhile, it will continue to invest in information technology and the digital sector in order to push Thailand as an IT hub, along with rebranding the Eastern Seaboard Special Economic Zone into the Eastern Economic Corridor.

Moreover, Thailand can become the tourism gateway and connectivity hub of Southeast Asia, he said.

“The government is transforming the economy to a higher level. During this period of change, we need more investment from outside – and China is one of the targets,” he told investors.

Somkid had brought more than 70 provincial governors to Shanghai 12 years ago to learn about economic development, but he said that during his visit this time, he aimed to attract specific investment, particularly in high-end products and the service sectors.

Hirunya Suchinai, secretary-general of the BOI, told the conference that the Thai economy would be driven forward by more robust human-resource development via collaborative research-matching between the public and private sectors, educating the private sector on the public-private partnership (PPP) model, and improving the Kingdom’s skilled-labour pool.

Thailand can also offer the most affordable Grade A office space in the Asia-Pacific region when compared with costs in major cities such as Manila, Hanoi, Jakarta, Seoul, Singapore, New Delhi, Shanghai and Hong Kong, she said.

The country also has Asean’s second-most-competitive rate of corporate income tax at 20 per cent, behind only Singapore, whose tax rate stands at 17 per cent.

Hirunya said the sectors offering the most promising potential for Chinese investors looking at Thailand were automotive and auto parts, electronics and appliances, metal parts and machinery, agriculture and food processing, medical, biotechnology, alternative energy, and IT and e-commerce.