BOI secretary-general Hirunya Suchinai made the remark yesterday at the in “Bangkok Nikkei Forum”, co-organised by the BOI, Nikkei Inc and Nikkei Group Asia.

The forum’s topic was “Asia’s New Era of Opportunity and Cooperation – Thailand as New Asian Business Hub”.

According to the BOI, Japanese have been ranked among the top investors in Thailand in terms of the value of projects applying for BOI privileges over the past decade.

Currently Japanese investment in Thailand is not only focused on heavy industries like automotive or electrical products but on higher advanced technology and research and development. This is in line with the BOI’s new policy of focusing on wooing foreign investment in high-tech industries.

Last year Japanese investment in Thailand that obtained BOI support was valued at around 100 billion yen, most of it aimed at the service sector, followed by metal and machinery production.

In the past five months, the BOI approved tax support to 121 Japanese projects worth Bt20.85 billion or 62.55 billion yen, of which 48 were in the service sector.

The BOI is revising its regulations to raise the tax-waiver period on corporate income from the current maximum of 8 years to 13 years in order to woo more foreign investment. It is also working out details on which kinds of investment will be able to enjoy the new privileges.

The BOI has received incentive applications for foreign investment worth Bt300 billion in the first six months, compared with the whole-year target of Bt450 billion.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said in a speech at the event that the Thailand Future Fund worth about Bt100 billion was expected to be put before the Cabinet within the next two weeks.

He said the government had undertaken many moves to make Thailand fundamentally stronger, including the reduction of economic inequality and improvement of the country’s competitiveness.

Masashi Imamura, executive vice president of Sony Corporation, said at the seminar that Thailand’s strength lay in its skilled management and its connectivity with Asean, together with attractive BOIincentives.

He also urged Thailand to address the country’s shortage of skilled workers if it wants to woo more investment from advanced technology businesses.

He added that in the short term, Sony had no plan to set up an R&D base here but it was possible in the medium to long term that Thailand could become the company’s R&D hub in the region.