Bt2-bn budget sought to woo foreign investors' confidence
The subcommittee tasked with revitalising the country's image in the eyes of foreign investors after the flood disaster will ask the government for a budget of Bt2 billion.
Industry Minister Wannarat Charnnukul, who chairs the subcommittee, yesterday said most of the budget would go towards organising roadshows both inside and outside the country, aimed at restoring foreign-investor confidence. The targeted economies for the roadshow campaign are the ones that invest in Thailand the most, such as Japan, China, the European Union and the United States. On each roadshow, the prime minister, a deputy prime minister or relevant ministers will participate.
The budget will also cover trips by foreign media invited to observe the flood-protection system that the government will invest in soon, as well as international conferences to which leading chief executives worldwide will be invited.
“We believe that foreign interests are still confident of investing in Thailand, but they want us to ensure that flooding will not happen again in the future. So, our job is to boost their confidence. I admit that Bt2 billion is quite a lot of money to revitalise our country’s image, but we need to do this job,” Wannarat said.
Atchaka Sibunruang, secretary-general of the Board of Investment, said the BOI would be responsible for producing advertising to be displayed in airports in the targeted countries, and documentaries to air overseas.
The BOI will bid for international conferences to come to Thailand, as these would be opportunities to promote the country as safe from flooding.
“We plan to carry out these activities during the first and second quarters of next year. Once we are given the budget, we can start all activities promptly,” she said.
She said the BOI was confident that foreign investors did not want to desert Thailand, as shown by the investments that were granted BOI privileges during the first 10 months of this year, when the number of Japanese investors doubled from the same period in 2010. Overall during the first 10 months of this year, 828 projects worth a total of Bt281.759 billion were approved for BOI incentives.
For next year, the board has set an investment-value target of Bt450 billion for businesses granted incentives.
