Regarding the India Thai trade relations, Mr. Suwit commented on the early harvest scheme between India and Thailand, the total trade between the two nations was 4 Billion Baht last year and the forecast for 2010 is 10 Billion Baht. Thailand strongly supports India for the ASEAN India Free Trade Agreement and firmly believes that Thailand is India's gateway to ASEAN. The minister said "Royal Thai Government fully supports [the] India-ASEAN FTA.
Indian companies such as
Tata Motors have been making substantial investments in Thailand. Tata motors is one of the 6 companies which have been granted approval for the Eco Car project by the Government of Thailand. Thai companies have invested more than 1 Billion US Dollars in North -East India.
Talking about the "
Thailand Investment Year 2008 to 2009", he said one of the top priority when
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej took office was to restore foreign investor confidence in Thailand. One of the first actions of the current government when they took office was the lifting of 30% reserve requirement for capital control. He also assures that the Government will take care that any revision to the Foreign Business act would be done in favour of the investors.
He also commented about their move towards promoting more environmental friendly technologies. He said "We plan to focus on industry of tomorrow but not waiting till tomorrow, do it today". The minister also commented that the infrastructure in Thailand is generally considered among the best in the region.
Key highlights of Thailand Investment Year 2008 - 2009
- Set ambitious target of tapping an investment of 3 Trillion Baht by the year 2011
- Promote use of future technology for example alternate engegy.
- BOI to revise list of activities eligible for investment promotion now covering 104 categories.
- Will place greater emphasis on Information Technology
- BOI to give tax incentives to companies to encourage them to change their mechaniries to improve effeciency and reduce enviornmental impact.
- Study aprooved on construction Southern Seaboard Industrial Area
- Actively promoting investment in the lostic sector.
- BOI will propose to cabinet a revision of the "Investment Promotion Act" that will be more practible and suitable to encourage investment.
- Taken measures to reduce processing time at BOI
- Separate BOI lanes for immigration at Suwarnabhumi Airport. Faster immigration process for foreign investors.
- Will strengthen infrastructure.
News 
On Wednesday May the 28th a dinner talk was organized by India Thai Business Association (ITBA) formerly India Thai Business Forum (ITBF) jointly with India-Thai Chamber of Commerce (ITCC) at the Rembrandt Hotel, Bangkok. The topic of the talk was "Thailand Investment Year 2008 - 2009" and the speech was delivered by His Excellency Mr. Suwit Khunkitti - Deputy Prime Minister cum Industry Minister of Thailand. The talk was attended by many people mostly businessmen of Indian origin.
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