On October 10, the 2016 Sino-Thailand Economic Forum co-sponsored by Industrial and Commercial Bank of China (hereafter referred as “ICBC”) and Board of Investment of Thailand (hereafter referred as “BOI”) was held in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. Somkid Jatusripitak, Vice Prime Minister of Thailand, Qian Wenhui, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors of ICBC, and officials from the Ministry of Industry, the Ministry of Finance, the Eastern Economic Corridor Development Supervision Committee, the Industrial Park Administration of Thailand, Bank of Thailand as well as hundreds of renowned enterprises such as Huawei Technologies, China Railway Construction, China CO-OP, Charoen Pokphand Group, Amata Corporation, Thailand TRC Construction and Thai Airways international attended the forum.

The Forum was initiated by Somkid Jatusripitak, Vice Prime Minister of Thailand, when visiting ICBC during his visit to China in June this year. The objective of the Forum is to build a platform for communication between Chinese and Thai entrepreneurs and investors, to deepen Chinese companies’ understanding of the Thai market and to promote the bilateral industrial and commercial cooperation to achieve common and reciprocal development.

Mr. Qian Wenhui, Chairman of the Board of Supervisors ICBC, said in his address at the Forum that China and Thailand were friendly neighbors and important partners for development. For the past seven months, bilateral trade volume between China and Thailand has reached USD 36.1 billion and China has become Thailand’s largest trade partner and import market.

With the acceleration of Chinese enterprises to go global and the transformation and upgrading of Chinese consumption pattern, the Sino-Thailand economic exchange will bring more opportunities to Chinese and Thai companies. Since Thailand is at the intersection of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, and with the implementation of the “Belt and Road” initiative, more Chinese companies have invested in Thailand. In the past seven months, new Chinese direct investment projects in Thailand have added up to 55 with a total investment volume of 21.46 billion Thai Baht, and both project number and total investment value doubled year on year. ICBC would like to strengthen the cooperation with all partners to participate in and support key projects and contribute to Sino-Thailand economic exchange and cooperation.

Mr. Somkid Jatusripitak extended a warm welcome to Chinese friends intending to invest in Thailand in his address at the forum. He pointed out that as the second largest economy in ASEAN and located at its core area, Thailand is a country of important geographical position along the “Belt and Road”.
To promote the investment in Thailand and the long-term national development, the Thai government has formulated the 2015-2022 infrastructure development plan, and put forward development plans for 10 industrial clusters and taxation and non-taxation preferential policies, which will bring tremendous business opportunities for Chinese companies investing in Thailand. He said that the Thai government assigned the BOI, the Eastern Economic Corridor Development Supervision Committee and the Ministry of Finance to introduce relevant preferential policies for investing in Thailand, the major development projects along the eastern economic corridor, the PPP Thai infrastructure projects and the plans for fund development of the government.

As one of the most internationalized commercial banks, ICBC has set up 412 institutions in 42 countries and territories around the world by the end of June 2016, including123 institutions in 18 countries and territories along the “Belt and Road” and 64 institutions in eight ASEAN countries. With advantages in investment and financing product lines such as global financing, investment banking and financial leasing, ICBC has strongly supported and served Chinese enterprises going global. Up until now, it has provided financing service for 239 “Go Global” projects and issued loans of USD 62.1 billion in total. Moreover, with 7 offshore clearing banks around the globe and a powerful RMB clearing network, ICBC has the capability to provide clearing and transaction service uninterruptedly around the clock, and to boost cross-border RMB business development.

ICBC entered the Thai market in 2010 by establishing ICBC (Thailand), which is based in Thailand and relies on ASEAN to fully play its role as the bridge and bond of Sino-Thailand economy and finance and to support the economic and financial communication between and development of the two countries. For the past six years, ICBC (Thailand) has supported various major infrastructure projects of Thailand in the fields of railway, rail transport, new energy, telecommunications and aviation by issuing loans and providing guarantees. In January 2015, authorized by the People’s Bank of China, ICBC (Thailand) served as the Renminbi clearing bank in Bangkok and has since played a positive role in Sino-Thailand bilateral trade development and the use of Renminbi in Thailand. Currently, with the full-suite commercial banking license, ICBC (Thailand) has grown into a comprehensive commercial bank providing all banking products such as loans and deposits, trade and financing, remittance and settlement, leasing and consultation. By the end of 2015, total assets of ICBC (Thailand) had exceeded USD 5 billion.