Thailand will not add conditions on established investors while it courts new EV investment, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul said on August 21. He spoke to reporters during an official visit to Australia and New Zealand. Anutin also holds the interior portfolio.
Anutin said he had assigned Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Ekniti Nitithanprapas to review how investors from various countries are looked after. The existing auto industry should not be put at a disadvantage as new EV players put money into the country, he said.
This comes as Toyota Thailand questions the premier’s EV incentives, amid Indonesia’s attempts to influence the Japanese automaker to move its Thai production plant down south.
The government’s main policy is to stay open and to adjust conditions so that doing business is more flexible, Anutin said. He pointed to the good relationship with Japan and to long-term growth. The goal is to keep Japan’s strong production base in Thailand.
Japanese investors have been in the country so long that they are barely distinguishable from local businesses, Anutin said. Thailand is ready to ease restrictions to reassure them they are not being abandoned. He rejected the pattern of conceding everything while investors are needed, then adding conditions once they are established.
Foreign direct investment passed 1 trillion baht last year under this government, Anutin said. Actual investment in the first half of this year has already reached 530 billion baht. Those figures show no relocation of production bases, and no slowdown caused by claims that Thailand is unprepared, he said.
Early-stage EV production still brings in many parts from abroad, Anutin said. A domestic supply chain covering batteries, computer systems and other components will emerge as production requirements force it to be based in Thailand.
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The story Japan’s automakers told their base in Thailand is safe as seen on Thaiger News.
