Japan, Thailand boost industrial cooperation

BANGKOK, May 21 (TNA) - Japan and Thailand will expand their industrial cooperation, emphasizing on the lacquerware production and the agro-industrial sectors. Thai Permanent Secretary for Industry Pasu Loharjun is leading his team to visit Japan's Wakayama Prefecture this week to sign a memorandum of understanding (MOU) between his ministry and the Japanese southern prefecture on the agreed cooperation, aimed at sharing advanced technological and innovative knowhow and relevant experiences. Prior to his departure from Bangkok on Tuesday, Pasu told journalists that Japanese firms remained top of the list in the first quarter of this year for the appplications submitted for incentive approvals from the Board of Investment of Thailand (BOI), with their overall investment value of over 26.8 billion baht, or about 20 per cent of the total foreign direct investment projects (FDI) applied for the BOI's incentive approvals during the first three-month-period. Besides, Japan is now Thailand's second largest trading partner, with the two-way trade having exceeded 1.94 trillion baht. Meanwhile, Kobchai Sungsitthisawad, Director-General of the ministry's Department of Industrial Promotion, said that as cooperation between his ministry and the Japanese Wakayama Prefecture will be focused on the lacquerware production and the agro-industrial sectors, his department has been assigned to learn on the adoption of advanced technologies and innovations for comprehensive steps of the production of processed fruits and other farm products, covering those on adding their market values, extending their expiry dates, cutting their production costs through automation systems and utilizing the big data system. Kobchai revealed that the Thai team is also scheduled to visit an advanced technological industrial center and a traditional Japanese lacquerware industrial center in Wakayama to learn on its designs and production techniques of lacquerware products in order to be applied to Thailand's new lacquerware production and conservation center in the northern resort Chiang Mai Province by September 2019. According to the senior Thai official, the Wakayama Prefecture is not only a major source of fruits in Japan, especially citrus hassaku, persimmon and varieties of prune, but it is also the outstanding base of the Japanese food, machinery, textile, wooden, steel and local community goods production industries. (TNA)