Govt to earmark one SEZ as 'innovation
Play
THE GOVERNMENT plans to select one of its special economic zones (SEZs) to be promoted as a hub for innovation activities to encourage foreign investors, especially from Japan, to move their design centres and laboratory into the country.
Arkhom Termpittayapaisith, deputy transport minister, said the government was looking for an appropriate SEZ to be promoted as a special zone offering investment privileges for technology-oriented and innovation activities.
Speaking at the “Thailand Development and Investment Seminar” held yesterday by the Japan External Trade Organisation and the National Economic and Social Development Board (NESDB), Akom said setting up an innovation centre in an SEZ would help industries strengthen their value chains as well as help Thailand become a high-income country.
“Thailand has spent the past 30-40 years developing our manufacturing industry by relying on imported technology. This innovation-oriented strategy will allow the country to be developed in a more sustainable way,” he said.
He said the government also had a policy to attract foreign investors to open international headquarters and trading centres in Thailand. Deputy Prime Minister MR Pridiyathorn Devakula will work closely with the Finance Ministry in offering privileges to foreign companies setting up headquarters in the Kingdom.
Arkhom said the government would also promote Kanchanaburi as an SEZ for small and medium-sized industries, such as makers of parts and other support products supplied to the manufacturing process. This would be complemented by Myanmar’s Dawei SEZ development, which will cater to big industries.
It would also support the Greater Mekong Subregion Southern Economic Corridor with a transport and logistics route from Dawei to the Eastern Seaboard of Thailand and on to Cambodia and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietnam.
He said Amata Group, a leading industrial-estate developer, had proposed establishing an estate in Kanchanaburi allocated especially for rubber and related products.
Pojanee Artarotpinyo, senior adviser to the NESDB, said the government launched the SEZ policy last year to attract investment and maximise the benefits arising from the Asean Economic Community to be implemented by the end of this year.
She said the country’s SEZ development framework was aimed at enhancing regional economic integration by reducing disparities, and strengthening national security.
In the first phase, SEZs have been promoted in five border provinces, namely Tak, Sa Kaew, Trat, Mukdahan and Songkhla. In the second phase, another five provinces will be added to the SEZ network, which are Kanchanaburi, Chiang Rai, Nong Khai, Nakhon Phanom and Narathiwat.
The investment privileges include land acquisition for foreign investors, as well as permission to use unskilled foreign workers in the zones. The government will also provide key infrastructure, labour management and one-stop service centres to support the SEZ development.
