Swasdee ka and Good Morning,
The Honorable Minister Steven Joyce,
Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen,
First of all, I would like to thank you for the introduction. I am pleased to be here in Auckland, the business capital of New Zealand. I have had many memorable visits to New Zealand, both on business and especially on vacation! So I know how nice and beautiful this city is. It is an honour for me to be here on an official visit and to have this opportunity to meet all of you to promote stronger ties between our two nations.
The growing partnership between Thailand and New Zealand is based on more than fifty years of friendship. This was significantly strengthened when Thailand and New Zealand agreed to the Closer Economic Partnership, which increased trade by three times since 2005.
We look forward to expanding our trade even further through bilateral cooperation in key area such as agriculture. Both our countries are major agricultural exporters, Thailand is a leading exporter of rice and fruits while New Zealand is a leading exporter of kiwi fruit and dairy products.
We should work together in areas including technological upgrades, post-harvest management and storage and food safety standards. This would allow both of us to upgrade product quality for the global market and contribute to food security.
Another sector that we should enhance our cooperation is tourism, as both countries have great natural beauty. Now there are already 100,000 New Zealanders visiting Thailand each year. So that is why I am glad to be here again, to see this country’s natural beauty. We can share experiences on development of tourist areas that are friendly to the environment and exchange best practices on tourism safety. We should also explore cooperation in film production, given the assets both countries as film locations. Cooperation in film production would also help boost tourism as well.
Expanding our partnership with New Zealand is possible partly because of the strong fundamentals of the Thai economy. With continued political stability, the Thai economy grew stronger than expected at around 6.4 percent last year. This was also driven by government policies to support domestic consumption and promote investment including reducing corporate income tax from 30 percent to 23 percent, and will do down to 20 percent next year. Economic indicators for January reflect a new mood of confidence, leading to estimates of similar growth rates this year.
Meanwhile, the financial and fiscal position remains exceptionally strong. Government policies and enhanced efficiency in project and policies execution have led to tax revenue collection exceeding our annual target. Public debt to GDP is at around 42 percent which is much lower than our ceiling of 60 percent. So the Government has “fiscal space” to pursue major infrastructure projects and other policies to promote sustainable and inclusive growth, while maintaining fiscal discipline.
In terms of investment, 66 billion US dollars of investment in transport infrastructure will enhance Thailand’s competitiveness, increase linkages to our neigbouring countries and boost trade and development along the border areas. 12 billion US dollars in investment in water resources management should protect the regional supply chain and your investments. Thailand will be a logistics hub and gateway to the ASEAN Community of over 600 million people.
We will also need to pay more attention to green technologies and clean energy in order to promote green growth as His Excellency already mentioned. That is why my Government is investing in new technologies through R&D as well as promoting use of alternative energy. I know from my own experience that New Zealand has great expertise in this area, because when I was here previously, I had a chance to learn about an initiative that allows for paper production while at the same time manages to preserve the environment. This is another example of areas of expertise where Thailand can benefit from greater cooperation with New Zealand.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
These are just some of the reasons why it is a great time to invest in Thailand. The recent Fitch Ratings’ upgrade of our country ratings from BBB to BBB+, reflects the growing confidence that the international community have on Thailand’s potential and stability. In the meantime, we have a policy to promote overseas investment by Thai companies. Through mutual trade and investment supported by government policies, and enhanced cooperation in key areas like agriculture, tourism and green technologies, I am confident that we will strengthen the partnership between Thailand and New Zealand.
Thank you for your attention.
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