Investment Changes in Asia: New Opportunities

A group of political figures in Asian nations -- Thailand, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Malaysia, Bangladesh, Pakistan, Kazakhstan, and Hong Kong -- together convened at the 10th World Economic Forum (WKF) to attract foreign investors around the globe. A session themed "Investment Changes in Asia: New Opportunities" moderated by Ki-sik Park, executive vice president at the Korea Trade-Investment Promotion Agency (KOTRA), began the first part of the session with the keynote speech by KOTRA Chairman Cho Hwan-eik.

Chairman Cho highlighted that Asia's promising businesses will be essential links to the global economy. Chairman Cho presented three drives expected to haul Asia: new growth engines centering on the green growth industry, investment expansion, and business exchange expansion.

Following a keynote speech, Dr. Atchaka Brimble Secretary General Thailand Board of Investment began to talk about investment environments and projects in Thailand. She said that the Thai government has restored confidence with a $3.3 billion stimulus package and succeeded in laying foundations for long-term competitiveness. She added that Thailand is projected to attain an economic growth of 1.4 percent in the last quarter of 2009.

Regarding investment promotion strategies in Thailand, she stated that Thailand has offered generous investment promotion privileges to both domestic and foreign investments, created a business-friendly environment, and opened One Start, One Stop service center (OSOS). The automotive industry was picked as Thailand's most prospective investment opportunity.

The second speaker of the session was Eko Wuryanto Luky Indonesia from the Board of Investment in Indonesia. Luky started off his presentation by citing that Indonesia has well managed even through the crisis, with 2010 economic growth forecast for Indonesia standing at 5.4 percent. Natural resources, aluminum, and the automotive sector were chosen as Indonesia's promising investment opportunities. Moreover, he also remarked that China's labor intensive industries, especially the shoe industry, has been moving back to Indonesia. According to him, more than 4300 workers moved to Indonesia from China and Vietnam.

Shivan De Silva, executive director of board of investment, Sri Lanka, closed the first part of the session, giving explanations on an investment climate and related projects in Sri Lanka. He first illustrated roles of Board of investment of Sri Lanka. Those roles are: attraction of foreign direct investments; granting exemptions in Corporate Tax; facilitating the releases of State Lands and liaises with related ministries and agencies for necessary approvals; and providing investor after-care. He then briefed about Sri Lanka's business environments. According to Silva, Sri Lanka allows total foreign ownership, levy no restrictions on the repatriation of earnings, and guarantees safety of foreign investments under the Constitution. Silva requested offshore investors to invest in Sri Lanka's non-conventional renewable resource sector involving mini hydropower, biomass energy, wind energy, solar energy, and hydro energy.

[written by Eun-jung Kim, edited by Jae-yoon Jung]

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