April 10, 2013, at 1400hrs, President of US-ASEAN Business Council (USABC), Mr. Alexander C. Feldman led the representatives of USABC to pay a courtesy call on PM Yingluck Shinawatra on the occasion of their annual visit to strengthen trade and investment cooperation with the Thai Government. The US delegation comprised of representatives from over 30 corporations in various major areas such as credit, financial and insurance business (ACE, AIG, Mastercard, Visa); agricultural business; food and beverages (Cargill, Caterpilla, Coca-Cola); oil and energy business (Chevron, ConocoPhilipps); medicine and medical supplies (Eli Lilly, GlaxoSmithKline, Johnson&Johnson, Merck, Pfizer); electrical appliances, computer and IT (GE, Google, HP, IBM, Microsoft, Oracle, Qualcomm); and automobile, transportation and logistics (Ford, General Motors, Guardian Industries).
Participating in the meeting were Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Kittirat Na-Ranong; Prime Minister’s Office Minister Niwattumrong Boonsongpaisan Commerce Minister Boonsong Teriyapirom; Transport Minister Chatchart Sittipan and Industry Minister Prasert Boonchaisuk. PM’s Secretary General Suranand Vejajiva revealed detail of the discussion as follows:
PM Yingluck welcomed the President of USABC on the occasion of their annual visit to Thailand this year which marked the 180th anniversary of the diplomatic relations between Thailand and the United States of America. This visit, thus, reflected the confidence of US business sectors towards Thailand’s economic potential and opportunity.
The President of USABC informed PM Yingluck that US business representatives accompanying him in this visit was the largest in number comparing to the previous visits of USABC. He added that the US was pleased to be one of Thailand’s top trade partners and planned to increase more trade and investment value to eventually become no. 1 trade partner of Thailand.
PM Yingluck expressed her pleasure to work closely with the US and ensured that Thai economy had already been recovered from the flood crisis. Moreover, Thailand’s credit rating was upgraded from BBB to BBB+ which reflected confidence in the country’s strengthened fiscal policy; stability of the Thai Government; policies to promote foreign trade and investment, and competitive enhancement of the industrial sector such as reduction of business tax from 30% to 23% last year and further to 20% this year. It was expected that Thai economy would grow by 4.5-5.5% this year.
The Thai Government welcomed investors from the US to seek more investment in the country. PM Yingluck also mentioned Thailand’s geographical advantage in being the gateway to ASEAN and other countries in the region, and emphasized on the Government’s intent to develop infrastructure projects to reduce logistics and transportation cost for the industrial sector and to increase connectivity such as high-speed railway, deep-sea port, water management, and promotion of food security and energy for sustainable development. The Parliament had already approved the first phase of Loan Act: 66,000 million Baht will be invested in rail system, roads, and maritime connectivity; and 12,000 million USD in water resource management.
In addition, the Thai Government supported research and development for new technology; promotion of knowledge-based and environmental friendly industries, and renewable and alternative energy. For this, Thailand hoped to receive technology transfer on energy from the US. The President of USABC commended Thailand for its leading role in the promotion of US cooperation in the region and thanked the Thai Government for welcoming and supporting US investors and their business activities. The President of USABC also expressed confidence in Thailand’s potentiality and economic opportunity and affirmed that USABC businessmen would continue to promote investment in Thailand and ASEAN.