Thailand Welcomes Investments by Papua New Guinea

(29/03/2013)

Thailand welcomes investments planned by Papua New Guinea in Thailand, which is becoming the logistics hub of the ASEAN Community. In her speech at the Thailand – Papua New Guinea Business Event, held in Papua New Guinea on 25 March 2013, Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra stated that Thailand would continue its technical cooperation with Papua New Guinea to develop local capacities and human resources in order to support the growing economy of Papua New Guinea. She called on the two countries to work together to increase the 400 million US dollars in trade and investment between them, since the value was in fact minimal. The Prime Minister said that Thailand supports overseas direct investment and exports by Thai companies, while promoting foreign direct investment in the Thai economy, giving special importance to the role of the private sector. Thai investors in agro-business and fishery industries are also looking for local partners to expand the market in Papua New Guinea and in the wider Pacific Islands market. As for tourism, she said, Thai companies are ready to bring their knowhow and work with local firms to brand and market the tourism industry of Papua New Guinea, whether in eco-tourism or other areas. And with Thailand attaching great importance to energy security, it supports successful cooperation and investment in the energy sector there. In the joint press statement between Prime Minister Peter O’Neill of Papua New Guinea and Prime Minister Yingluck on the same day, Papua New Guinea welcomed Thai business people wishing to explore business opportunities in Papua New Guinea, particularly in the areas of energy, agricultural products, fisheries, tourism, and infrastructure. In the area of technical cooperation, Prime Minister Yingluck expressed the Thai government’s preparedness to provide its expertise and experience in key development areas of priority to Papua New Guinea, such as public health, sufficiency economy, agriculture, fishery, SME development, and tourism. The two leaders underscored the positive outcomes of their bilateral discussions, which have resulted in a number of joint commitments and cooperative endeavors. In this regard, they attached importance to the establishment of the Papua New Guinea – Thailand Bilateral Consultations as a mechanism to discuss areas of mutual interest, ranging from political issues to economic and technical cooperation, as well as global challenges. Both leaders agreed that the consultations between the two countries would be at senior level and that the first meeting would be hosted by Thailand, in which the first framework of the discussion will include Thailand’s Technical Cooperation to advance business partnerships between Thailand and Papua New Guinea for the benefit of the two countries.