Opening Remarks by His Excellency Mr. Apichart Chinwanno, Ambassador of Thailand to the French Republic

FIEV Automotive Workshop,

9 April 2014, 10h05

at 79, rue Jean-Jacques Rousseau, Suresnes

Moi, je ne parle pas bien français. Permettez-moi de vous adresser en anglais.

It is an honour for me to be here today with prominent members of the Federation of Vehicle Equipment Industries. I wish, first of all, to express my sincere thanks to FIEV for organizing this event and for their continued support and cooperation.

This seminar is most timely as it provides us with an opportunity to update the business leaders of the French automotive industry on Thailand’s current economic landscape and to reinforce the reasons for you to place Thailand at the centre of your strategic investment map.

On Thailand’s economic outlook, let me say this. Despite the difficult political challenges that we are currently facing, we estimate that our economy will continue to grow at the rate of 2.1 – 3.1 percent. One should not forget that the Thai economy has shown consistent resilience in the face of more than a few occasions of external or internal shocks in the past decade. The underlying economic fundamentals remain intact, be they skilled and hard-working labour forces, good infrastructure, business-friendly regulatory environment, sound financial and banking system, and robust macroeconomic factors including low and stable inflation rate of around 2 percent, high international reserves at around 170bn USD, flexible exchange rate, and manageable level of public debt at 46.1 percent of GDP.

With a GDP of more than 390bn USD, Thailand is the second largest economy in Southeast Asia. As ASEAN moves toward ASEAN Community in 2015, Thailand’s central and strategic location in the region continues to be its core strength, providing convenient travel and market access to China and India as well as other East Asian countries such as Japan and the Republic of Korea.

The automotive industry has been a priority sector for the economy of Thailand. For several decades, the government has supported and encouraged the development of the automotive sector. Major automotive companies, such as Michelin, Valeo, Inergy Automotive Systems, Faurecia, have established their manufacturing plants in Thailand, catering to the domestic as well as global markets.

Today the automobile industry is the third largest industry in Thailand, accounting for 12 percent of GDP. The industry has developed into Southeast Asia’s largest manufacturing and sourcing hub, and into an export base for both automobile and component makers. With 2.5 million vehicles manufactured in 2012, 50 percent of which are exported, Thailand has become the world’s 10^th biggest car maker.

Added to that, the ASEAN Economic Community, to be realized in 2015, will establish ASEAN as a single production base and a single market of some 600 million people. ASEAN will be the 6^th largest automotive market globally by 2018.

As the top production base in the region, Thailand is poised to become a hub of automotive industry in ASEAN. The country will naturally become a regional supply chain centre for most automotive companies.