Ambassador holds a discussion with the SMBC executives and delivers an opening remark at the seminar on “New Opportunity for Investment - EV and Next Generation Car and Regional Headquarters in Thailand.”

26/09/2024

On 26^th September 2024, His Excellency Mr. Witchu Vejjajiva, Ambassador of Thailand to Japan, held a discussion with SMBC Executives, led by Mr. HYAKUTOME Yoshihiro, Senior Managing Executive Officer, Co-Head of Global, SMBC Group and Mr. YUI Koichiro, Executive Officer, Country Head of Thailand, Managing Director of Bangkok Branch, at the SMBC Office in Tokyo.

Following the discussion, Ambassador delivered an opening remark at the seminar titled “New Opportunity for Investment - EV and Next Generation Car and Regional Headquarters in Thailand”. The said seminar was co-organised by SMBC and Thailand Board of Investment (BOI), Tokyo Office in order to provide insights into Thailand’s current economic and political situation, as well as BOI’s incentives for foreign investors, and was well attended by 101 participants from various Japanese companies.

The key message of the Ambassador both during the discussion with the SMBC executives and in his remark was the continuity of Thailand’s economic policies under Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra’s government, which remain open, market-based and business friendly, especially for Japanese investors. The Ambassador pointed out that in order to achieve value-added production, decarbonization and sustainability Thailand attaches great importance to future industries, such as clean energy, agricultural and food technologies, data centres, chip manufacturing and design, semiconductors, and electric vehicles. He also urged Japan and Thailand to further strengthen their collaboration to better both sides’ capability for addressing emerging challenges, particularly technological disruption, as well as to enable them to remain competitive and relevant in today’s fast-changing geopolitical and geoeconomic landscapes.