Briefs

The Commerce Ministry’s Business Development Department has given approval this month for 31 foreign firms with a combined initial investment capital of Bt1.71 billion to set up operations in Thailand under the Foreign Business Act (FBA).
However, the number of approvals has fallen by 6 per cent when compared with April last year, while the initial investment capital has soared by 98 per cent, largely because commercial banks are among those planning to invest in the country.
The new investment will create at least 2,188 jobs for Thais.
In the first four months of the year, 144 foreign firms have been approved to operate in the Kingdom under the FBA.
Pongpun Gearaviriyapun, director-general of the department, said yesterday that foreign firms were tending to invest more in light of Asean integration and the government’s investment in infrastructure projects.
She said more foreign companies were likely to invest in Thailand to serve business growth in Asean, with the main focus expected to be on construction, finance and other services. The government’s policy to support Thailand as a regional headquarters for foreign companies should also facilitate more foreign investment, she added.

MEET KUNIO OKAWARA, CREATOR OF GUNDAM
Kunio Okawara, the designer of the very first Gundam, is coming to Bangkok to hold a live onstage forum from 11.30am to 12.30pm on May 1 for all Thai Gundam fans.
The event will be one of the highlights during “Anime Festival Asia Thailand 2015”, to be held from April 30 to May 2 at Bitec in Bang Na.
Invited by Dream Express, the official licensing representative of Gundam in Thailand, Okawara will demonstrate his unique expertise in the role of mechanical designer that has inspired many new designers to follow suit. In 1979, the first series of the robot-genre TV animation “Mobile Suit Gundam” began broadcasting in Japan. For the past 36 years, the Gundam franchise has crossed generations and been enjoyed by an ever-growing fan base.
The success of the animation series has made Gundam a high-value character business worldwide.