Investment booms in Thailand's gateway to Indochina

BANGKOK, June 12 (TNA) - Investment is booming in Thailand’s northeastern Ubon Ratchathani province, as several large-scaled investors have arrived with their expectation that the northeastern Thai province will become the country's gateway of trade with Indochina after the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) is formed by 2015. Nimit Sitthitrai, Chairman of Ubon Ratchathani's Chamber of Commerce, said Tuesday that Ubon Ratchathani is attracting several investors from Bangkok running department stores, hotels, product manufacturers, as well as cargo transportation and construction materials firms. Nimit reported that about 4-5 investors are spending 700-1,000 million baht each on their business projects in Ubon Ratchathani. The provincial chamber of commerce chief acknowledged, as the AEC is scheduled to be established by 2015, neighbouring Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam are developing transportation routes toward the South China Sea, which will benefit Ubon Ratchathani and turn the northeastern Thai province into a trade center of Indochina and a cargo distribution hub for the country's Lower Northeast, thanks to the province's shortest route-link with Vietnam, Cambodia, Myanmar and China. According to the provincial chamber of commerce chief, the value of Thai-Lao trade, for instance, through the Chong Mek border pass has exceeded 10 billion baht and has kept rising. (TNA)