The Hong Kong Trade Development Council (HKTDC) has earlier arranged another meeting for seven local enterprises participating in the t-Box Upgrading and Transformation Programme with the Consul-General and representatives of the Kingdom of Thailand in Hong Kong to learn about the investment opportunities in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) in Thailand, highlighting Hong Kong's role as an Economic bridge in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area.

Hong Kong and Thailand jointly adopted measures to promote two-way investment

Speaking at the opening ceremony of the event, Mr Lau Hoi-ping, Deputy Managing Director of HKTDC, pointed out that Hong Kong and Thailand are long-standing trading partners and have signed a number of trade agreements (including six Letters of intent) in recent years to strengthen economic cooperation between the two places. He noted that the TDC's newly launched "GoGBA Bay Area Business Link" platform provides enterprises with business information on the Greater Bay Area, including policies, grants and incentives, to encourage Hong Kong and Thai enterprises to make good use of the platform's resources.

He pointed out that the HKTDC's "T-Box Upgrading And Transformation Programme" was launched earlier to provide free support to Hong Kong smes in brand upgrading, e-commerce, production and supply chain solutions to enhance their competitiveness and achieve the upgrading and transformation target. With the support of the Consulate-General of the Kingdom of Thailand in Hong Kong, a number of business activities have been arranged to pave the way for closer cooperation between Hong Kong and Thai enterprises.

The introduction of foreign capital accelerates the economic development

Speaking at the opening ceremony, Tull Traisorat, Consul General of the Kingdom of Thailand in Hong Kong, said that COVID-19 has highlighted the importance of technology and innovation to economic recovery and sustainable development in the post-covid-19 new normal. It just so happens that the Thai government is promoting the EEC project to turn eastern Thailand into a technology and innovation center to drive the country's economic development. In addition, the "Bio-circular-green" (BCG) national development strategy formulated by the Thai government this year focuses on promoting sustainable economic development by integrating science and technology and innovation into key industries such as agriculture, food, medicine, biochemical energy and tourism.

Stressing that Thailand and Hong Kong play similar economic roles as springboards to ASEAN and the Mainland respectively, Mr Traisorat encouraged companies of the two places to strengthen co-operation, particularly in areas such as innovation and creative technology, to achieve synergies.

We will improve infrastructure projects along the Thailand-East Economic Corridor

Dr. Luxmon Attapich, Deputy Secretary general of the Office of Eastern Economic Corridor of Thailand, gave an overview of EEC development in Thailand through video and focused on land, sea and air infrastructure under construction, including a high-speed rail link between the three airports, U-Tapao Aviation City, Laem Chabang Port Phase iii, And Map Ta Phut Port Phase III project.

To cope with EEC, she said, "the development of science and technology and innovation, the Thai government especially attaches great importance to the digital infrastructure, including EEC has completed 5 g network construction and comprehensive signal coverage, encourage enterprises in the digital application, health and logistics, and other areas of the three major investment, covers the digital science and technology, automation and robotics, aviation and logistics, food, health care and other 12 future target industries.

To attract smes to set up factories in EEC, Dr Attapich pointed out that the Thai Government has provided a number of preferential policies, including training support and subsidies, to assist enterprises to upgrade and transform into "Thailand 4.0" smart factories and to establish a sound ecosystem to facilitate the smooth development of start-ups in EEC. She also noted that the Thai government is promoting green economic policies and has set a target of reducing carbon emissions by 20 to 25 percent by 2030.

Hong Kong and Thailand jointly expand the Greater Bay Area by taking advantage of entrepot enterprises

Dr. Wimonkan Kosumas, deputy director of Thailand's Small and Medium Enterprises Promotion Bureau, said that currently about 90 percent of Thailand's goods are re-exported to mainland cities via Hong Kong and Guangzhou, so Hong Kong merchants play an important role in Thailand's trade. She cited statistics pointing out that Thailand's export trade is mainly concentrated in categories such as food and fruit, but the proportion of cosmetics and clothing is not high, which should be noted by Hong Kong businesses.

On the sectors targeted by the Thai Government for development, she said Hong Kong businesses had unique advantages in technology, creative and professional services, such as Internet of Things (loT), artificial intelligence and digital payment. She cited the example of a Thai manufacturer who developed and exported Tom Yum Goong rice cakes to the Mainland to illustrate that Thai food enterprises could partner with Hong Kong enterprises to jointly expand the Greater Bay Area market by leveraging EEC's scientific development and creative concepts.

HKTDC's diversified services support smes

Introducing the t-Box Programme, HKTDC's Senior Customer Service Manager, Mr Vincent Lo, said that the programme aims to assist smes in upgrading and transforming their brands, e-commerce, manufacturing, supply chain and market development. The "GoGBA Bay Area Business Link" one-stop platform focuses on helping Hong Kong businessmen and Thai enterprises jointly explore the huge business opportunities in the Greater Bay Area.

He said the TDC shenzhen Office had set up a "HKTDC Greater Bay Area Service Centre" to provide consultancy services and organise various workshops to help enterprises learn more about practical business information such as tax system and business licences in the Mainland.

Hong Kong enterprises are interested in investing in Thailand

Since the launch of the T-Box Programme, the HKTDC has arranged meetings between Hong Kong enterprises and the Consulate-General and representatives of the Kingdom of Thailand in Hong Kong for the second consecutive year. Seven smes from it services, catering, medical technology, health food and overseas property consultancy services participated in the event.

Gan Lianhong, director of Yong Kee Restaurant Group, one of the delegates at the meeting, said yong Kee restaurant has always attracted many Thai tourists, and its roast goose is particularly popular among them. Having learned that food is a key development project of the Thai government, the Group is exploring the feasibility of exporting roasted goose to Thailand.

Wu Jiehui, Chief Growth Officer of Allklear, a health food company, said that their flagship product, "Pure fiber powder", is a new generation of green food and intends to promote the product in Thailand. Aurora Tele Oncology, a medical technology company, has set up an office in Thailand and is looking for partners there, said Jiang Yaowei, vice general manager of Aurora Tele Oncology.

Successful case: TDC helped Hong Kong merchants enter Thailand Industrial Park

In addition, HKTDC invited Ms. Tsui Mei Wong, General Manager of Marketing Department of Golden Source Group, to share her experience in setting up a factory in Thailand. Wang cuimei noted that the group, founded in 1963, mainly designs and produces high-precision metal components and provides optical fiber components and network wiring solutions, applying precision manufacturing technology to the optical fiber communication industry. Last year, it decided to expand its production base to Thailand's Ayutthaya High-tech Industry Estate and participate in TDC's "T-Box Upgrade and Transformation Program".

Ms Wong said that with the help of TDC, the company completed document approval, opened a bank account, set up an office and even applied for ISO certification for its factory in just nine months. Now it only takes 45 minutes and 90 minutes to travel from the factory to the airport and the neighboring port, which is convenient and effectively saves logistics costs.

She added that the production of fiber optic components requires high-quality workers, especially since all of our customers are international giants. In addition, our employees in Thailand are between 27 and 34 years old, who can speak English without language barrier and are not difficult in personnel management. This is a good opportunity to learn about the latest policies in Thailand and further expand our business.