The Board of Investment (BoI) is exploring four more countries in Asia and Africa this year to support Thai investors wanting to expand overseas.

Executive investment adviser Vittaya Praisuwan said the BoI had established a new division to seek potential new markets worldwide to support the country's industrial expansion.

Last year the BoI encouraged Thai investors to invest in Nigeria, Pakistan and Russia. It plans to explore Bangladesh, Kazakhstan, Kenya and Sudan this year. He said BoI officials had explored markets in Sudan and Kenya and talked to public authorities there last week.

He said the two countries were very interesting for Thai industries, particularly agro-industry and the service sector such as hotels and spas, thanks to plentiful resources and attractive tourism spots.

"Their governments focus on encouraging foreign investment in these industries because most of their populations are agriculturists," he said.

Besides, they have high potential for sunset industries such as textiles and garments for those who want to relocate their plants in order to boost their competitiveness in global markets. "These countries will be another choice for our industries to relieve shortages of labour and raw materials, for example, copper and other metals," Vittaya added.

He said investors worldwide were attracted to invest in developing countries in South Asia and Africa owing to their superb natural resources and dramatic growth of gross domestic product (GDP), which are expected to stay around 6 to 8 per cent this year.

He pointed out that China was the country that invested the most in these countries. "Chinese investors desire the natural resources, especially oil, to drive their businesses. Mean-while the Chinese government has returned the favour by spending a huge amount of money on developing its infrastructure," he added.

However, he said it still needed agro-industry experience from Thailand to improve its people's standard of living.

"Among developing countries, in its opinion, we are an expert in the agricultural sector," he said.

Chalida Ekvitthayavechnukul

The Nation