Mitsui urged to invest in Dawei
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Execs, PM discuss trade network
Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra asked the Japanese trading giant Mitsui & Co to invest in the Dawei development project in Myanmar when she met with the company’s vice president, Senichi Tanaka, yesterday.
Accompanied by Japan’s ambassador to Thailand and Veerasak Kositpaisal, Thai Oil’s president and chief executive officer, Tanaka visited Government House yesterday.
Yingluck first met the Mitsui executive during her official visit to Japan in May. Her office said she appreciated Mitsui’s investment in Thailand, where it has done business for several decades, and saw the upcoming joint venture between Mitsui and Thai Oil as another step in fostering the relationship between Thai and Japanese private entities.
The Thai government is ready to support this joint venture and will assign the Energy Ministry to discuss further details with Mitsui soon, the office said.
Yingluck, Ambassador Gaikasu Sato, and the Mitsui and Thai Oil executives discussed investment opportunities to create a trade network among countries in this region.
The prime minister expressed hopes that the Japanese private sector and/or Mitsui would join Thailand in investing in the development of Dawei, as the link between that port and Thailand’s own Laem Chabang should also benefit Japan.
Tanaka affirmed that Mitsui was confident in its investments in Thailand and noted that the relationship between the Thai and Japanese private sectors had always been good.
Mitsui wanted to brief Yingluck on the progress of the Thai Oil-Mitsui joint venture in an LAB (linear alkyl benzene) production plant. LAB is a base substance for making detergent and cleaning solvents for export to leading firms in Japan and other countries worldwide.
Veerasak said Mitsui had expertise in producing LAB. The plant, which will be situated in Sri Racha district, Chon Buri, should be completed by 2015.
High-level executives of Mitsui and Thai Oil were to sign the JV contract yesterday. Should this project prove successful, Thailand will be the LAB production centre in Southeast Asia.
The JV firm, Labix Co, was established last August with registered capital of Bt4.65 billion and paid-up capital of Bt1.86 billion. The shareholding proportion is 25 per cent for Mitsui and 75 per cent for Thai Paraxylene Co.
Labix Co will be responsible for the construction of the LAB plant, which will have annual production capacity of 100,000 tonnes and will begin commercial operations in the second quarter of 2015.
