We hope your summer is off to a great start! I’m excited to share some updates on Thailand.
Recently, the Thai government announced a plan to develop the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) via improvements to land, sea, and air infrastructure, including a new highway, high-speed train, as well as expansions of U-Tapao Airport and the Laem Chabang deep seaport. These improvements will support growth in target EEC industries, such as the electric vehicle (EV) automotive sector. As the future of automobile production looks increasingly to electric vehicles, Thailand is preparing to meet demand by incentivizing production of hybrid EVs, plug in hybrid EVs, and battery EVs. Already Toyota has announced plans to invest USD $571 million to produce electric vehicles in the EEC. To facilitate further such investments, the Strategic Talent Center (STC) was created to help science and technology companies relocating to Thailand identify talent, ensure their staff are properly registered with the appropriate government agencies, and assist in the visa and work permit process.
In addition, multiple global companies have announced plans to establish a presence in Thailand this quarter. Harley-Davidson is planning to set up a factory to serve the South East Asian market, and Daimler has recently announced plans to begin making commercial trucks in the country. Also, Alibaba is planning to set up a Thai e-commerce and logistics hub, expected to be completed by 2019, and Sikorsky, a Lockheed-Martin subsidiary, also announced plans to establish a customer support center to service the Southeast Asia region.
As the summer comes to an end, we look forward to sharing similar developments and what the rest of 2017 has in store for Thailand. We hope to connect with you again soon.
