TURNING JAPANESE
Industry Ministry will match Thai businesses with those from Japan’s Aichi prefecture following an agreement signed last year.
The Industry Ministry will match Thai business operators with those from Japan’s Aichi prefecture following a cooperation agreement signed late last year.
The move is aimed at developing hightech industry in tandem with S-curve economic growth.
The Japan External Trade Organization (Jetro) and the Industrial Promotion Department have joined hands with Aichi prefecture to set up a business-matching event for high-tech small and mediumsized enterprises to support targeted industries, department director-general Somchai Harnhiran said.
The event will draw 23 SMEs from Aichi and 100 SMEs from Thailand in the automotive, medical supplies, biotechnology and chemicals sectors, Mr Somchai said.
“Given the government’s numerous measures, we believe investment by Japanese SMEs in the industrial sector will grow this year,” he said.
Aichi is an industry-intensive prefecture located in the Chubu region of the main island of Honshu. Its GDP in 2013 was ¥35 trillion (10.8 trillion baht). A total of 284 companies from Aichi already invest in Thailand, mainly in hightech industries.
The prefecture is pursuing policies to promote next-generation industries such as fuel-cell vehicles, automated driving support, aircraft and robotics.
“I will join the government’s subcommittee to develop the logistics and aviation industries as part of the new S-curve industry,” Mr Somchai said.
He said he saw great potential in Japan’s aircraft industry after Mitsubishi Aircraft Corporation, based in Aichi, made a prototype of a new jet expected to be commercially available in 2018.
“The aeroplane is quite hard to develop since it requires a high level of precision and high standards, but once production starts it will generate long-term value,” Mr Somchai said.
He said his department would also host business-matching events with industrial companies from Ehime and Fukuoka prefectures later this month.
Yasuhiro Nakao, executive general manager of Aichi-based Denso International Asia, said Thailand’s automotive industry fared badly last year. He believes the trend will continue, forcing the company to make other products.
Denso, a major supplier of automotive technology, has invested in Thailand since 1972.
The company will not shift its production base elsewhere but will increase its investment in Indonesia, Mr Nakao said.