The Japanese Chamber of Commerce (JCC) in Bangkok, along with executives of 25 leading Japanese firms, including Mitsubishi Co (Thailand), Nippon Steel, Itochu (Thailand), Sumitomo Corp (Thailand), Mizuho and Thai Kurabe, met with high-ranking officials at the Industry Ministry yesterday.

After the two-hour meeting, JCC president Tetsuji Banno said he received clear answers about Thailand's political situation and foreign-investment policy following the military coup.

"Although we now have confidence to proceed with our investment expansion in Thailand, the Thai government should conduct road shows to clarify the situation for company head offices in Japan, so they have a better understanding," said Banno.

He said Japanese investors with experience in Thailand remained confident. However, the small to medium-sized companies that are considering investments are still concerned about the direction of the new Thai government.

Banno said if the Thai authorities ended martial law and did not introduce policies barring trade by international firms, that would help both Thailand's image and its investment atmosphere, because investors would believe the political turmoil of earlier this year had eased.

However, the new government's first priority should be tackling the problems of cargo held up at the new Suvarnabhumi Airport.

Banno said the new government should also focus on manpower and free-trade agreements between Japan and Thailand.

Deputy Industry Minister Piyabutr Cholvijarn said the new government wanted Japanese investors to have a greater understanding of its foreign-investment policies.

He assured the JCC the Kingdom would continue to promote foreign investment. Moreover, he said Thailand would strive to promote competitiveness in its private sector by upgrading productivity, technology, research and development and logistics. This support will be aimed at serving foreign investment.

In the meantime, Piyabutr said, the government would pay attention to free trade and investment while in parallel seeking to manage resources properly.

"The country will concentrate on balancing growth and sustainability rather than on the rapid growth of economics without stability," he said.

Industry Ministry permanent secretary Chakramon Phasukavanich said free-trade talks between Thailand and Japan had already concluded in terms of content.

He said Ford and Mazda had recently discussed with the Board of Investment (BoI) the possible allocation of production lines from Japan to Thailand.

BoI secretary-general Satit Chanjavanakul said Japanese-based Nidec Electronics (Thailand) recently applied for BoI tax privileges to invest Bt16.8 billion here in the production of computer hard-disk drives.

In the first eight months of the year, Japanese investors still ranked as the top applicants for BoI tax privileges, with 235 projects worth a total of Bt65.98 billion.

Watcharapong Thongrung

 The Nation