Industrial collaboration pact signed with Taiwan in EEC boost
THAILAND yesterday signed an industrial collaboration agreement with Taiwan at the 2017 Taiwan-Thailand Industrial Collaboration Summit in Bangkok.
The collaboration covers five industries: food and biotechnology, textiles, cultural and creative, smart machinery and IT services.
The summit was hosted by the Federation of Thai Industries and Taiwan’s Federation of Industries (CNFI).
Taiwan is a major source of foreign direct investment in Thailand. From 1959 to 2016, Taiwan was the third largest source of foreign direct investment, at US$14.2 billion.
Kanit Sangsubhan, secretary general of the Eastern Economic Corridor Office, said Taiwanese investors were interested in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) as the industrial structures of the two economies complemented each other.
A group of investors from the island visited the EEC area with the aim of scoping out investment opportunities.
Kanit said Thai industries would benefit from more technological collaboration with their Taiwanese counterparts amid the country’s efforts to upgrade its industries.
Chi-Chia Hsieh, director of the CNFI, voiced his support the EEC.
“I’m jealous about the EEC with its massive area. In Taiwan we don’t have so much available land and the airport is right in the zone,” said Chi-Chia, referring to the U-tapao Rayong-Pattaya International Airport, which is set for expansion under the EEC plans.
He also noted that the economic corridor is close to large markets - southern China and other Asean countries.
Hsieh said that since the 1960s Taiwan has successfully operated science parks and now boasts three of them. This had resulted in many high-tech companies moving their manufacturing operations into these parks.
More recently, companies engaged in new technologies - such as precision machinery, electronic parts and components, and parts for electric cars - have expanded their investments and production facilities in the science parks.
Hsieh cited the example of Taiwanese manufacturers supplying large volumes of parts for electric cars to US-based Tesla.
While Chung-Shu Wu, president of the Chung-Hua Institution for Economic Research, said that Taiwan and Thailand share a high degree of similarity in their efforts to promote industrial innovation and regulatory reform in order to support the transformation of businesses.
He said the edge Taiwan held in information and communications technology, coupled with its experience in promoting industrial innovation and the history of Taiwanese companies operating in Thailand, are all beneficial for further industrial collaboration between the two economies.
