“To strengthen the economy for the long term, Thailand needs more high-end industries such as research and development, and Chinese companies can provide these,” Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said yesterday. On Sunday, he took representatives of the private sector to China to seek more investment. The delegation will be there until Thursday, visiting Beijing and Shanghai.

He will talk with eight to 10 start-ups about setting up in Thailand as part of their overseas expansion. The Board of Investment of Thailand will offer them incentives.

Somkid is scheduled to meet with more than 300 Chinese investors tomorrow at a conference on “Thailand: Moving Forward |to Sustainable Growth”. The event aims to pinpoint investment opportunities especially in the |ICT, auto, electronics, parts, tourism, telecommunications-equipment and machinery industries.

Southeast Asia, including Thailand, is now well positioned for more investment from China because of the current uncertainty in Europe, the government believes.

While the political tension in the Kingdom may not bother investors in the short term, it will be good in the long term if the country returns to full democracy, Somkid said.

From 2010-14, 172 investment projects worth Bt85.3 billion from China were approved. The top destinations were the machinery, automotive and solar-cell industries.

Last year, the government approved 81 projects worth Bt28 billion, up from 40 projects in 2014.

From January to April this year, 27 projects valued at Bt5.9 billion received approval.

This year, Thailand is targeting more investment in high-end endeavours such as natural rubber, machinery and parts, automotive, rail, aviation maintenance, biotechnology, tourism, software parks, data centres and cloud service.

The Commerce Ministry reported that investment from Thailand in China in 2013 consisted of 37 projects, down 32 per cent from 2012, but up by more than 500 per cent in value.

In 2014, investment value from Thailand declined by 87 per cent. From January to October last year, Thailand invested about Bt1 billion in China, mostly in retail, banking and finance, and aviation.