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Ambassador India & AABC CEO Roundtable 12 Mar'13, Bangkok, Group Photo

The purpose of the roundtable, to be held bi-monthly is to build on the momentum of the past years in India- Thailand ties. To create a core group of advisers from a variety of business sectors through this select group of participating CEO’s who will play a key role in building further on the business, trade and investment ties of the two countries. The roundtable will also serve as an informal forum to address the concerns, queries of Thai companies who are doing or plan to do business with India. Exchanging business opportunities/enquiries coming from India with this group and getting feedback as soon as possible on potential matches will also be one of the goals. During this year, the CEO’s of the roundtable will become a well informed group on all the major developments of the two countries and thereby will be able to contribute more meaningfully to the ties between India and Thailand.

The AABC (AseanAffairs Business Council, www.AABCouncil.com ) organisation was set up in 2006 by Mr. Swarup Roy in Asean with its HQ in Bangkok and New Delhi and very soon also in China with the purpose of bringing the Asian century to fruition. AABC aims to bring business people from C.I.A. (China India Asean) together thereby helping to be a catalyst in the potential $1trillion trade between India and China through Asean. Bangkok is situated strategically right in the centre of C.I.A.
        

 Indian-Ambassador-Anil-Wadhwa-welcoming-the-CEO's-to-the-inaugural-Roundtab

Ambassador Wadhwa in his welcome address said “India-Thailand bilateral trade has multiplied seven times since 2000 to reach USD 8.68 in 2012. It is expected to touch USD 14 billion by 2014. For Thai investors, India would remain attractive given the opportunities available in the infrastructure (highways, ports, railways, power generation) - about USD 1 trillion investment in the next five years- and in food processing, retail and logistic sectors. We could also look at cooperation in computer hardware and other aspects of Information Technology and explore joint ventures in the automobile sector. A trilateral highway project linking India, Myanmar and Thailand, covering a distance of 1600 km, is well underway and will open the ‘Mekong-India Corridor’ linking the growing Indian market to the new ‘tiger’ economies of South-east Asia.  This land connectivity would provide immense boost to India’s trade with Thailand and the region. India’s North Eastern region, specially the four Indian states which share common border with Myanmar, will benefit immensely.  The target is to achieve seamless road connectivity between India’s North East and South-east Asia, by 2016. This will facilitate logistics and reduced cost of transportation. Air connectivity between India and Thailand is growing with more than 152 flights per week, reflecting a rapidly growing passenger traffic between the two countries. Very soon new flights to Phuket and Ahmedabad will commence adding more to destinations both in India and Thailand and connect businessmen from both sides. Dawei-Chennai link: economic corridor linking India with Thailand and Southeast Asia has a great potential for strategic economic linkage and could become a connecting point to link the Thai-invested Dawei deep sea port and special economic zone in Myanmar. This link, as and when developed, is likely to bring huge cost benefit on the shipment front. It might be useful for developers of Dawei to also explore interests of Indian companies in participating in this project”

 S. Roy Founder AABC addressing the CEO's

Mr. Roy further explained that the $90 billion project linking India’s political capital to the commercial capital Mumbai being funded by Japan is called the Delhi-Mumbai Industrial Corridor (DMIC) Project, conceived as a symbol of Indo-Japan strategic partnership. The project seeks to create a strong economic base with a globally competitive environment and state-of-the art infrastructure to activate local commerce, enhance investments and attain sustainable development. The emphasis is to expand the manufacturing and services base and create a 'Global Manufacturing and Trading Hub'. Potential for Thai and international companies to participate in this industrial corridor is immense with clean and smart cities, logistics hubs, special economic zones all coming up along the 1483 km length of this gigantic project. 24 Manufacturing cities are envisioned with 6 National Manufacturing and Investment Zones along the corridor. Opportunities across the value chain would be power, transportation, internal infrastructure, ICT, logistics.

 Sean BOONPRACONG, International Advisor to Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra

 Sean BOONPRACONG, International Advisor to Thai PM Yingluck Shinawatra said in his remarks that right now the Thai Trade Representative is visiting India following up on the two visits of PM to India last year. India is on top of Thailand’s trade priority.

Khun Mayta, Director of Pruksa Real Estate

Mayta Chanchamcharat, Director, Pruksa Real Estate PCL narrated their happy experience of doing business in India. Their residential properties in Bangalore which is selling out fast showed this major Thai developer the vast and lucrative
opportunity in India. He said that the sheer size of the Indian market may one day force his company to relocate their HQ to India from Bangkok. “Finding the right partner is the key and Banks, Financial Institutions can help in this area”, he advised.

Khun WANDEE  KHUNCHORNYAKONG, Chairman & CEO, SPCG Public Company Limited

WANDEE  KHUNCHORNYAKONG, Chairman & CEO, SPCG Public Company Limited, Thailand’s ‘Solar Power Queen’ as described by Roy said she and her company, Thailand’s largest Solar Power Company has planned expansion in Asean and she has been looking at India as the very next step. She is an ardent Satya Sai Baba devotee.
Roy pointed out to Khun Wandee and the gathered CEO’s that it is very good to expand into the Asean countries, however India is like a whale in the sea and therefore the same amount of work that goes in catching a school of small fish goes into catching a whale with vastly different results.

Col(Retd DKC, GCB with Ambassador Wadhwa

He introduced AABC’s representative in NE India based in Guwahati city in the state of Assam, Col (Retd) GC Baishya. “A distinguished military commander and now working in the private sector, GCB’s responsibilities include organizing similar CEO Roundtables in Guwahati and India and working closely with the State governments in NE India and Indian companies. The Chief Minister of Assam visited Thailand in 2011 and is very keen to welcome and provide a red carpet to all of you who wish to visit the state and to do business there. At the end of this series of Roundtables toward the end of the year we plan to organize an AABC Summit either in Bangkok or India and Guwahati where we will bring heads of companies from India and Thailand together and uphold the successful examples of companies who have been able make a business deal between Thailand and India”.

“AABC will be the helping hand, working with the companies in the private sector on both sides till we reach a deal, that is the main goal/objective of AABC. If you don’t make money, you won’t come back to this forum, I know. It means a lot of hard and persistent work for me and my team. But this is in the best interest of both our countries. In this Endeavour we are grateful for the support of the Thai and Indian governments, Ambassador Wadhwa and people like Khun Sean BOONPRACONG, International Advisor to PM Yingluck”, concluded Roy.

The audience of CEO's at the Roundtable

 Participants of the Ambassador of India and AABC CEO Roundtable

                                                                                                                                
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