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THAILAND and Bhutan have agreed to forge closer ties in tourism and to formulate a package called “Two Kingdoms One Destination”, while exchanging business missions next year.

After the first meeting of a Joint Trade Commission including Bhutanese Economic Affairs Minister of Lyonpo Lekey Dorji last week, |Thai Commerce Minister Apiradi Tantraporn said yesterday that the two countries had foreseen closer cooperation in many ways, particularly in tourism, as both are strong in that sector.

“Bhutan has encouraged more Thai investors to do business there as well as help transfer know-how in tourism management and human-resource development,” she said.

The cooperation will emphasise cultural and religious tourism. Meanwhile, the “Two Kingdoms One Destination” package could be promoted and advertised under a single campaign. Bhutan has also encouraged Thai high-end hotel enterprises to invest there to serve rising tourism.

So far, two Thai enterprises have already invested in Bhutan’s hotel business. They are Haven Resort in the town of Paro and DhusitD2 in Thimphu, the nation’s capital.

In the agricultural sector, Thailand has provided support to Bhutan for a long time. It will increase cooperation in harvesting, research for biotechnology and laboratory development.

For its part, Bhutan will set up a trade mission to Thailand early next year in order to showcase its strengths in trade, tourism and investment.

Apiradi said that Phub Zam, chairwoman of Bhutan’s Trade and Industrial Organisation, said her country wanted to attract investment from Thailand in many sectors, including agriculture, tourism, construction, forestry and wood products, education, and film production, and development.

Bhutan is Thailand’s eight-largest trading partner among South Asian countries, and 166th globally. Trade between Thailand and Bhutan was quite small at US$11 million (Bt380 million) last year.

The value of two-way trade during the past five years averaged $15.1 million, but has grown quite strongly at 38 per cent a year. Exports from Thailand averaged $14.98 million, growing by 39.12 per cent a year, while imports amounted to a very small $120,000 a year.

Potential export products from Thailand to Bhutan are automobiles and parts, textiles, machinery and parts, wheat products, processed foods, garments, canned and processed fruits, microwave ovens, electrical appliances, furniture and parts, and paper and printing products.

Import products from Bhutan include wood and products, soap, cosmetics, medical products, fruits and vegetables, and fabrics.

Source: The Nation

The CEO of one of China’s largest companies, Jack Yun Ma of Alibaba Group, has taken the opportunity to meet with Thailand’s Prime Minister while he was in Hangzhou, China for the Group of 20 summit (G20).

Prime Minister Gen Prayuth Chan-ocha yesterday was visited by the chief executive officer of Alibaba Group, one of China’s largest E-commerce corporations, Jack Yun Ma. The two discussed supporting and developing small and medium enterprises in Thailand, with the premier pointing out up to 90 percent of Thailand’s exports are from SMEs while noting that they have been lacking in proper management. He invited the successful CEO to share his experiences and knowledge with Thai businesses as well as to aid in creating an SME network in Thailand, which he said would also benefit foreign investors.

Ma meanwhile, lauded the Gen Prayuth for prioritizing SMEs, giving his view that current global conditions benefit large corporations while serving as an obstacle to small enterprises. Nonetheless, he indicated he believes new avenues of sale will dominate in the next 30 years.

He also noted Thailand has many strong supporting factors for business, such as quality human resources, and said that with the application of new technology it could greatly boost its competitiveness. He said his company is looking to use its Alitrip system to boost travel to Thailand by Chinese citizens.

The premier concluded the meeting by urging the CEO to work with Thailand’s OTOP makers with the businessman responding he was interested in the sector.

Source:ThaiVisa News

Above: Goodyear Thailand Pcl planned to invest $162 million to build a new radial aviation tire factory to expand production at Bangkok.

Goodyear Thailand Pcl (GYT.BK) said on Tuesday it planned to invest $162 million to build a new radial aviation tire factory to expand production at Phathumthani, north of Bangkok, to meet growing demand in Asia Pacific.

The expansion will help the tire maker capture growing demand for radial tyres as commercial airlines are rapidly converting their fleets to radial tires from bias tires, Managing Director Finbarr O’Connor said in a statement.

The first phase of the three-phase expansion is targeted to begin operations by 2018, O’Connor said.

The demand for radial tires is expected to improve as new commercial planes use them as standard, because they are lighter than bias tires and more suitable for aircraft landings.

The world’s aviation fleet is projected to double in size over the next 20 years, O’Connor said.

The Thai unit, 66.8 percent owned by U.S.-based Goodyear Tire & Rubber Co (GT.O), provides original equipment and replacement tires for passenger cars, commercial trucks and retread tyres for domestic sales and exports.

The Thai company, which employs more than 1,000 people in Thailand, expects to hire 100 more workers after the project is completed, it said.

Ernst & Young Corporate Services Ltd is the financial adviser for the project.

Above: The demand for radial tires is expected to improve as new commercial planes

Source: REUTERS

Following a nod from the public to the new draft constitution last month, Thailand’s regional and international profile has improved. For now, the country will spend the rest of the year fully engaged with global communities. It is also moving forward on a new path of consolidating its position in regional and international economic networks.

The relative calm currently prevailing on the home front is enabling Thai policymakers to look ahead and position the country to compete with other emerging economies.

At the G-20 Summit in Hangzhou, Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is attending for the first time as the G-77 chair — along with Laos PDR as the ASEAN chair.

As the host, China, has made clear, this summit should be inclusive because the health of global economies depends on the well-being of all economies, not only the rich ones. As such, Thailand can play a crucial role in linking developed and developing countries. Since taking up the chair of the G-77, Thailand has been greatly sensitized to major issues confronting the G-77 members.

China has outlined several benchmarks in Hangzhou to further promote economic growth with innovation and better governance. It claims new ideas such as a universal framework for investment and financial innovation would help increase foreign direct investment and facilitate commerce throughout the world if complicated rules and red tape were eradicated.

One area where Thailand can fit nicely is the sustainable development agenda, both in the regional and international context. The U.N. Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in 2030 have now become the focus points of the G-20. Within the region, the ASEAN Vision 2025 also contains similar elements outlined in the UNSDG’s targets. ASEAN has already endorsed Thailand as a coordinator between ASEAN and the U.N. on sustainable development goals. Further synergy and coordination would strengthen the regional and international implementations of these UNSDGs.

Later this month, ASEAN foreign ministers will hold a special session back-to-back with their informal ministerial meetings in New York to discuss the SDGs on the sidelines of the U.N. General Assembly. Indeed, it is an opportune time as this year marks the beginning for ASEAN and the U.N. of their first year in implementing the 2025 vision and the U.N. 2030.

To prepare for its role, back in June Thailand hosted an “interface meeting” with the U.N. Economic and Social Cooperation in the Asia and Pacific (ESCAP) and the ASEAN Secretariat to identify common agendas.

At the Vientiane meeting in July, ASEAN mandated Thailand to explore the development of priority areas and a road map to promote complementarities between the ASEAN vision and UNSDGs. In addition, Thailand must also explore how community building and the implementation of SDGs can reinforce members for the peoples’ benefit.

After Hangzhou, Thailand will pursue similar objectives at the 28th and 29th ASEAN summits in Vientiane this week. The notion that no one should be left behind has now become a mantra in formulating economic and social policies. With the rapid demographic growth in East Asia, Thailand has been instrumental in pushing for comprehensive action plans to cope with the ageing population in ASEAN+3 countries (Japan, China and Korea).

Souce: The China Post

The BTS Group and Sansiri launched their latest joint-venture project , situated in adjacent neighborhood of Bangkok’s new CBD, on Rama-9. In partnership with Sansiri, Golden Emperor launched this project for the first time globally last weekend. Our clients in Hong Kong had first pick of units, and attracting close to 1,000 customers attended over the weekend.

Above: Terence Chan, Director of Golden Emperor, provided a presentation on the BTS-Sansiri project and Bangkok’s new CBD.

Above: THE BASE Garden-Rama 9, situated in adjacent neighborhood of Bangkok’s new CBD.

Above: Close to 1,000 investors attended the weekend exhibition to preview BTS & Sansiri’s exclusive project, THE BASE Garden-Rama 9.

Above: Our clients in Hong Kong had first pick of units.

Above: Golden Emperor launched THE BASE Garden-Rama 9 for the first time globally last weekend.