Thailand Emphasizes Its Strategic Economic Partnership with Japan

(08/03/2012)

Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra stated that the Thai government was determined to support Thailand’s strategic economic partnership with Japan. During her visit to Japan from 6 to 9 March 2012, Prime Minister Yingluck met her Japanese counterpart Yoshihiko Noda and Japanese business people to exchange views on economic cooperation and progress in the Japan-Thailand Economic Partnership Agreement. She said that the economic partnership has led to an increase in trade and investment, with Japan using Thailand as a base for production and exports. It has also created jobs in the country and contributed to human resource development and technology transfer from Japan. The Thai government is therefore determined to support this strategic economic partnership, aimed at enhancing global competitiveness for the business sectors of both countries. Thailand has set a target to increase annual bilateral trade to 100 billion US dollars in 2017, as a way to stimulate both Thai and Japanese economic sectors. The Prime Minister highlighted Thailand’s four strengths to help promote Japanese investment in Thailand. First, Thailand is a center in the region, with transportation and communication links with neighboring countries. Second, it has an integrated production network, which enables the country to host large industries. Third, Thailand has an agricultural sector that is potentially strong and addresses the issue of food security, and fourth, it has capable and service-minded human resources. She hoped that Japan would use Thailand as a base for goods distribution and as a hub for regional business expansion. Thailand is ready to become a major investment base for Japan, and the Government maintains a policy to promote investment. She pointed out that supporting industries in Thailand are strong and there are competitive advantages in terms of investment capital for business. Corporate income tax has been decreased to 23 percent of the net profit, and will be decreased further to 20 percent by 1 January 2013. The Government maintains consistent and continuous policies to develop infrastructure for the future of the country. In the past year, both countries faced the most severe natural disasters in history. The earthquake and tsunami in Japan during the beginning of 2011, and severe floods in Thailand in the same year had adverse impacts on businesses in both countries. Prime Minister Yingluck thanked Japan for its assistance during the flood crisis in Thailand. She stressed that the Thai government was well aware of the hardships faced by Japanese companies during the flooding situation. It has implemented measures to address the needs of the Japanese companies to restore their production capacity. She believed that the measures carried out by the Government would ensure its ability to cope with possible severe floods in the future.