Thais eyeing Yunnan need to do homework
KANANA KATHARANGSIPORN
Kunming, China _ Thais seeking to successfully do business in China should learn Mandarin and Chinese business practices, according to Kosit Chatpaiboon, Thailand's consul-general to Yunnan province.
He said Thai and Yunnan residents shared similar cultural traits and historical ties. Currently, there are 400,000 Yunnanese living in Thailand. About 300,000 of them live in the north of the country and the remainder in Bangkok and Phuket.
``Among the Asean countries, Thailand is the most favoured market for [Yunnan residents] as we are friendly and open-minded,'' Mr Kosit said.
``Kunming, the major city of Yunnan, is growing very fast, and is the gateway and facilitator for the entire province.''
Mr Kosit said two-lane highways linking the 2,000-kilometre distance between Kunming and Bangkok would solidify trade and investment ties between the two regions.
He said there would be a lot of opportunities for trade in Yunnan as the southwestern province was being developed by the Chinese government based on development plans used in Shanghai and Beijing.
Networked infrastructure and economies of scale are other factors that are expected to attract more foreign investment in Yunnan.
Thailand-Yunnan trade from 1999 to 2003 grew by more than 260%, compared with 170% growth in trade between Thailand and China overall.
Yunnan last year had GDP growth of 10.8% to US$35 billion, compared with 9.5% growth for the entire country.
Yuan Qin, the general director of the Yunnan Foreign Investment Service Center, said foreign investment was largest in food processing, followed by service industries, agriculture, forestry, livestock, fisheries, property and mining.
More than 50 countries currently are investors in Yunnan. Thailand was the sixth largest investor in the province with 128 projects representing cumulative investment of $135 million and accounting for 3.94% of total foreign investment.
Major investments from Thailand include tourism, hotels, restaurants, jewellery, food and processed fruit industries.
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