The cooperation centres on raising awareness of the benefits of sustainable investment products, disclosing information related to sustainability, educating the capital market’s human resources and investors on sustainability and building ecosystem for sustainability to make the Thai capital market more attractive to investors worldwide.

SET President Pakorn Peetathawatchai said that markets around the world prioritise sustainable development, with the business sector playing an ever-increasing role in solving social and environment problems. Investment in businesses concerned with such issues is experiencing increased attention and offers an alternative to investors worldwide. The SET encourages the capital market and the business sector to continuously and concretely develop sustainability. The Thai stock exchange has shown prominent development with proven success as Thailand has the highest number of firms added to Dow Jones Sustainability Indices (DJSI) in Asean for five consecutive years. Moreover, SET has been granted the “United Nations Sustainable Stock Exchanges Market Transparency Award” and was the top-ranked emerging stock exchange and the only Asian exchange to reach the top 10, demonstrating the exceptional sustainability disclosure practices of Thai listed companies.

“This MoU with IFC will push the Thai capital market further towards sustainability by focusing on developing sustainable investment products namely the Green Bond, which is a debt instrument for environmental protection, educating workforce and investors in the capital market about sustainability and upgrading the Thai capital market in terms of sustainability to catch eyes of investors globally, in tandem with SET vision ‘To Make the Capital Market Work for Everyone’,” Pakorn added.

Vikram Kumar, IFC Country Manager for Thailand, said “We are excited to build this sustainable development partnership with the Stock Exchange of Thailand. Building environmental, social and governance capabilities can contribute to SET becoming one of the region’s premier exchanges. IFC is also committed to working with SET to build its sustainable credentials and promote the blossoming sustainable bond market. With its deepening financial markets and dynamic banking sector, Thailand is well placed to become a regional leader in promoting ESG standards, especially as it shares its capital and expertise with less advanced neighboring markets”.

Phiphat said the Bt120 million will be spent on stimulus projects and is in addition to the plan to hand out Bt1,000 cash to Thais to spend on tourism, which is a measure of the Finance Ministry.

Phiphat said the budget would be spent on at least three measures.

One measure focuses on a project dubbed “Bt100 visit to all parts of Thailand”. The project will randomly select 10,000 lucky persons on September 9, October 10, November 11, and December 12 who will be given a tourism package for which they will only be required to pay Bt100.

In another measure, the Tourism and Sports Ministry will develop an e-wallet application for tourists to use to spend during their travels and which gives them 15-per-cent cash back.

In the third measure, tourists will be encouraged to travel on weekdays instead of weekends and long holidays and receive a range of privileges and discounts, Phiphat said. He said the details of the third measure have yet to be worked out.

The minister added that he would continue to push for entry visa exemption for tourists from China and India although the Cabinet has already rejected the idea.

He said his ministry is further studying the proposal and will submit it to the Cabinet a second time for consideration. Even the Cabinet rejects the proposal again, Phiphat said, he is confident that tourism will see at least seven per cent growth, which is below than the projection of 9.5 per cent expected by the Tourism Authority of Thailand.

Phiphat expressed confidence that the goal of having 40 million foreign tourists visiting the kingdom this year would be reached. He said the foreign tourists would spend around Bt3.37 trillion in the kingdom.

As part of the tourism promotion measures for foreign visitors, the government would put Thailand forward as an international exhibition hub and try to maintain Thailand’s status as the top tourist destination in Asean.

“I would like to tell foreign tourists that Thailand has returned to full democracy, so they can come back to visit the country again,” Phiphat said, adding that quality tourists from western nations had stopped visiting the kingdom for more than five years.

The Stock Exchange of Thailand on Thursday closed at 1,639.14, up 22.21 points or 1.37 per cent from Wednesday with a trade value of Bt59.62 billion. Meanwhile, foreign investors reported net sales of Bt1.41 billion.

Singapore’s Straits Times index closed at 3,081.83, up 25.36 points or 0.83 per cent from Wednesday while the Hong Kong Hang Seng Index closed at 25,703.50, up 88.02 points or 0.34 per cent.

The Shanghai Index dropped 2.99 points or 0.1 per cent, closing at 3,028.60 and the Nikkei Index closed at 20,460.93, a drop of 18.49 points or 0.09 per cent.

The SET index rebounded when China announces no retaliations against USA, Kasikorn Securities said. The top five stocks were PTT Plc, which closed at Bt43.25 per share, up 5.49 per cent, PTTEP (Bt121 per share, up 4.31 per cent), IVL (Bt34.25 per share, up 7.87 per cent), TOP (Bt68 per share, up 9.24 per cent, and PTTGC (Bt53.25, up 3.9 per cent).

He added that the country’s fiscal status was strong and far healthier than it was in 1997, judging by its high foreign exchange reserves of more than US$200 billion (Bt6.12 trillion).

The minister added that Thailand’s internal strength will help it withstand global economic problems, but that it needs to keep changing strategies to survive.

Uttama also said that the government’s recently announced stimulus packages will help assuage the impact of drought on the farming sector, boost domestic consumption, ease the burden on the poor and give small and medium-sized businesses greater access to loans.

He said that though BoI is offering tax incentives to foreign investors, it is not enough compared to other Asean countries that offer them better deals.

“We have to come up a package that is more attractive for them to move their investment to Thailand. The meeting has been rescheduled until September 6, until the BoI comes up with a new package,” he said.

These are among the findings in a paper on the topic of “Tax-Motivated Profit Shifting and Anti-Avoidance Stringency: Firm-Level Evidence from Developing Countries.” The report was co-authored by Athiphat Muthitacharoen, a lecturer at the Faculty of Economics at Chulalongkorn University, and Krislert Samphantharak, the executive director of Puey Ungphakorn Institute for Economic Research at the Bank of Thailand.

The study focused on tax motivations to shift reported profit among foreign subsidiaries in five middle-income Asean countries – Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand and Vietnam (the Asean 5).

The paper uses firm-level data from developing countries to examine the significance of tax-motivated profit shifting from high-tax to low-tax countries by multinational enterprises and to analyse the extent to which anti-avoidance measures mitigate the profit shifting.

Tax avoidance by multinational enterprises (MNEs) has received a great deal of attention in public policy discussions as globalization has opened up opportunities for the corporations to greatly reduce the taxes they pay.

This practice, also known as base erosion and profit shifting, takes place when MNEs transfer profits from their subsidiaries in higher-tax rate countries to the ones with lower tax rates, hence minimising the total tax bill of the whole enterprise. Effectively, it reduces the tax collection of countries with higher tax rates.

The paper recommended that as tax-motivated profit shifting is significant, governments – especially those that rely heavily on corporate income tax – should therefore pay attention to this issue.

Enacting laws and introducing regulations alone are not sufficiently effective in mitigating cross-country profit shifting by MNE subsidiaries, the paper found. The government should also strengthen its auditing and transfer pricing scrutiny to prevent firms from moving reported profits to other countries

While existing measures seem to mitigate profit shifting for non-manufacturing firms and smaller manufacturing firms, there remain possibilities that large manufacturing firms will shift their profit abroad and additional efforts should be focused on these firms, the paper found.

Finally, the government should be aware of changes in tax policies, especially corporate income tax reduction, of other countries since these policies could result in higher incentives for foreign subsidiaries in host countries to shift their profit to the country with lower tax rates. That would result in lower tax revenue collection of the current host countries, according to the study.

The department however admitted that it is quite difficult to achieve the full-year result of Bt1.66 trillion targeted earlier as the country faces a host of challenges, especially a global slowdown and the trade war between the United States and China.

Department of Foreign Trade director-general Adul Chotinisakorn said that after seven months, the value of border and cross-border trade was only 50 per cent of the full-year target, so it would be hard to reach the goal set earlier by the department.

“The Bt1.6-trillion full-year target will be quite challenging, but we will try our best to achieve it,” he said.

Adul said Thailand exported Bt446.5 billion worth of goods to its four neighbours – Laos, Cambodia, Myanmar and Malaysia – in the first seven months of this year, a drop of 0.55 per cent compared to the same period last year, while the country imported Bt359.7 billion worth of products from those countries, up 4.56 per cent.

As a result, Thailand achieved a Bt86.8-billion trade surplus in the first seven months, he added.

Of the total exports to the four neighbouring countries, Bt646.28 billion was in border trade, up 0.46 per cent compared to the same seven-month period last year, and Bt159.94 billion in cross-border trade, up 6.85 per cent.

“Malaysia is still Thailand’s number one trading partner, with Bt318.19 billion in border trade in the first seven months of this year, down 2.49 per cent, followed by Myanmar with Bt118.58 billion, Laos Bt116.34 billion, and Cambodia Bt93.15 billion,” he said.

Meanwhile, Thailand’s largest partner in cross-border trade was south China, with a value of Bt73.61 billion, up 40.83 per cent over the same period last year, followed by Vietnam with Bt43.75 billion and Singapore with Bt42.58 billion.

“The negative factors impacting Thailand’s border and cross-border trades are the trade war between the US and China, with any settlement still uncertain, as well as disputes between India and Pakistan, and South Korea and Japan. The risks also include the protests in Hong Kong, Britain’s exit from the European Union, effective from October 31, and the fluctuation of many currencies around the world, especially the baht,” Adul said.

Banjongjitt Angsusingh, Director General of the Department of International Trade Promotion stated that: “The Trade Logistics Symposium is held every year at the annual Thailand International Logistics Fair (TILOG-LOGISTIX), hosted by the Office of Service Trade Promotion of the Department of International Trade Promotion.

The 2019 symposium, being held today (August 29) at BITEC, brings together global logistics experts to share and exchange their insights and knowledge with service providers, import-export entrepreneurs, and related agencies in Thailand.

“We believe that the knowledge gained from this symposium would enhance the capabilities of logistics personnel and related agencies. Moreover, it would also make them realise the importance of efficient logistics management and raise their service quality to meet international standards,” she said.

“This year’s symposium would focus on encouraging logistics entrepreneurs to collaborate with one another and broaden their knowledge of Disruptive Technology. Moreover, it would also assess the current situations and future trends of the global logistics industry.” said Banjongjitt.

Six experts in logistics and supply chain management would speak at the symposium, They are:

1) Edwin van Poelje, Acting CIO / Regional IT Manager at Linfox International Group, Australia’s biggest private logistics service provider. He would give a speech on “Leveraging loT to deliver advanced transport and logistics data and quality benchmarking information”. Discussions would also be held on how companies could cultivate their competitive advantage in a rapidly changing environment by applying new technology and innovations in supply chain operations to increase accuracy and efficiency and achieve optimal convenience.

2) Katsuhiko Umetsu, Senior Executive Officer of Yamato Holdings Co Ltd. and Managing Director of Yamato Global Logistics Japan Co Ltd, would speak on “Cross-Border Logistics and Emerging Markets: its importance and intricacies in relation to e-Commerce”. His speech would focus on the the importance of cross-border logistics infrastructure to e-commerce growth in Asean and other emerging markets.

3) Dickson Yeo, Senior Logistic Consultant, Swisslog Southeast Asia, a global leading provider of best-in-class warehouse automation solutions, would speak on “Smart Warehousing: Our Journey into Industry 4.0 using robotic & data driven solutions”. He would also present how modern technology can transform traditional warehouses into smart warehouses for a faster and less complex supply chain operation.

4) Sean Culey, a business transformation specialist, would share his view on “The Future Supply Chain: Automated, Personalised, Localised”. His speech mainly covers directions and future trends in supply chain as well as how to invest in the right technology to improve efficiency and increase the quality of people’s lives.

5) Mark Millar, Managing Director of M Power Associates and Chairman of Logistics Committee, British Chamber of Commerce in Hong Kong, would present “Supply Chain Ecosystems: Collaboration”. Millar would share how companies can develop their supply chain strategies to increase their competitiveness in a complex and connected world. He would also point out several critical aspects of the global supply chain ecosystem and how businesses can collaborate to achieve sustainable success.

6) Aparna Saxena, head of Transport Business Unit, Lazada eLogistics, would speak on “Fast delivery: How fast does it need to be and where is it headed, ” sharing the key success factors in delivery business which are more than just on-time service.

The investments will create 282 new jobs for Thai workers, he said.

The 13 firms are include five service firms from Japan, Singapore and Sweden with a Bt35 million investment value, such as a research and development firm for natural fibre, an accounting firm, a research service centre, and manufacturing for rent.

The next five firms were from the Netherland, South Korea, Hong Kong with a Bt4.76 billion investment value. They are made up of a hire purchase and leasing firm, auto service management and auto check up, online gaming and a mobile game unit, service for rental of intravenous administration devices and Haemodialysis Orthopaedic pilot machines.

On firm is a wholesale business from China with an investment value of Bt24 million.

The final two, from South Korea and China, are investing in engineering design and the design of a plastics plant, and are valued Bt390 million.

From January until August 2019, the department has approved 137 foreign firms in total, with an investment value of Bt21.17 billion. That represents a 23 per cent drop in the number of firms from the same period of last year, but a 148 per cent increase in investment value, said Vuttikrai.

On Thursday the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) and the Zhengzhou Airport Economy Zone (ZAEZ) of China signed a memorandum of understanding (MoU) for strategic cooperation between the two economic zones.

“The MOU agreement includes commitments by both parties to establish cargo routes from U-tapao Airport to Zhengzhou Airport, which will act as a gateway to distribute Thai goods to Europe and greater China,” said deputy prime minister Somkid Jatusripitak at the ceremony.

The ZAEZ is set to carry 515,000 tonnes of cargo per year within three years, accounting for 60 per cent of China’s cargo shipments, said Ma Jian, director of the ZAEZ.

Known as the “Aerotropolis of China”, ZAEZ also has business ties, shipping a significant portion of its cargo to Europe as well as acting as a hub for smartphone and e-commerce businesses, he added.

“If we are able to successfully establish cargo routes between U-tapao Airport and Zhengzhou Airport, the cargo route can act as a gateway for Thai goods to be shipped to Europe and the rest of China,” Somkid said.

The two sides have established a working team to discuss cargo connectivity between the two airports. A timeline for the establishment of the cargo route as well as the development of the cargo industry in U-tapao will be released in three months, according to Kanit Sangsubhan, secretary-general of the EEC Office of Thailand.

The MoU also includes agreements on joint investments between the two special economic zones.

The ZAEZ enjoys budgetary autonomy from the Chinese government, enabling them to make investments in local businesses in Zhengzhou as well as in the development of the cargo industry at U-tapao Airport, Kanit said.

Kanit will join Somkid in seeking opportunities to attract businesses in Zhengzhou to invest in the EEC and so expand the diversity of businesses to be established in Thailand’s flagship regional economic zone.

This represents part of a wider effort by the Thai government to woo foreign investors into the EEC. In October, Somkid will travel to Guangdong and Shenzhen provinces of China to talk to Chinese investors and invite them to invest in the EEC.

Finally, the MoU commits both parties to the exchange of knowledge and know-how in developing the Aerotropolis, as the EEC officials intend to use Zhengzhou as a model to develop to the EEC further, as well as the exchange of expertise on recruiting local talent.

“Like Zhengzhou city, the EEC which spans from Chon Buri to Rayong province covers a similar area of 400 kilometres squared,” Kanit continued. “We will use Zhengzhou’s model of developing the airport city along with encouraging business growth and urban planning through seamless integration to develop the EEC in the upcoming years.

“The development of the cargo industry in U-tapao can go hand in hand with other developments of the airport such as maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO),” he said, revealing that Airbus and THAI have finalised their agreement on those developments and the project is about to enter the Public-Private Partnership Act.

“We are confident that the EEC will make Thailand a key node of connectivity between China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) and the rest of Southeast Asia,” Somkid claimed.

Ma concurred. “Our hope is that the EEC and the BRI can synergise to increase the connectivity between Thailand and China. Zhengzhou’s model can be used to further develop the EEC through improving U-tapao’s cargo industry as well as making efficient urban planning and attracting businesses,” he said.

The MoU between ZAEZ and the EEC will last for two years, with both parties expecting to renew the commitments in 2021.