Bangkok governor wants the city to become “international business hub”

[webfact]

The governor of Bangkok has ambitious hopes of turning the Thai capital into a hub for international business. Chadchart Sittipunt says transforming Bangkok into a foreign business hub can only benefit everyone, through job creation and income generation.

 

He says he will discuss strategy with PM Srettha Thavisin’s administration. The governor’s vision includes making Bangkok a centre for the international film industry, in addition to addressing traffic management, congestion, BTS fares, and the debt burdens of residents.

 

“One of the crucial policies that requires attention and is in line with the government’s policy is to make Bangkok a centre for international firms. The economy is what shapes the city, generating income and attracting a labour force. 

 

By Peter Roche

Flickr/Roberto Trombetta

 

Full story: https://phuket-go.com/phuket-news/national-news/bangkok-governor-wants-the-city-to-become-international-business-hub/

 

-- PhuketGO 2023-09-05

 

- Cigna offers a range of visa-compliant plans that meet the minimum requirement of medical treatment, including COVID-19, up to THB 3m. For more information on all expat health insurance plans click here.

 

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[Doctor Tom]

This is laughable.  For this to succeed they will have to loosen so many restrictive laws on employment, investment and ownership.  This will never happen. 

[FritsSikkink]

21 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

This is laughable.  For this to succeed they will have to loosen so many restrictive laws on employment, investment and ownership.  This will never happen. 

There are already loads of international companies in Bangkok. With a BOI company you can own 100% of the said company, the company gets tax incentives and you have less restrictions on foreign workers.

 

So your comment is laughable.

[Doctor Tom]

47 minutes ago, FritsSikkink said:

There are already loads of international companies in Bangkok. With a BOI company you can own 100% of the said company, the company gets tax incentives and you have less restrictions on foreign workers.

 

So your comment is laughable.

Really?  Then why hasn't it happened already? There are not 'loads of international wholly owned companies' in Thailand because the Law doesnt allow whole foreign ownership operation. They are all partnerships in one form or another.  Even giants like international Law firms and accountancy firms have to abide by employment quotas and restrictive practices, which is why many don't stay, Tesco being one, Carrefour's another.  Guess why Toyota assemble cars here, under partnership? 

[FritsSikkink]

4 minutes ago, Doctor Tom said:

Really?  Then why hasn't it happened already? There are not 'loads of international wholly owned companies' in Thailand because the Law doesnt allow whole foreign ownership operation. 

Absolute nonsense. I work for a fully foreign owned BOI company. More info here: ○ BOI : The Board of Investment of Thailand

[Woof999]

Going a few years without a military coup might start to make people sit up and listen. Having visa laws that are followed uniformly at each and every immigration office might too.

 

Starting a business in Thailand is already an investment without having to jump through any additional investment/other hoops set by BOI. There are too many restrictions on smaller / medium sized businesses. If I ran a business here I'd want to hire the best staff for each role regardless of their nationality or anything else, not be instructed how many I must hire and where they must be from. How then might I attract the best talent for my business? Perhaps Thais might fill many of the roles. but if I want to search further afield then potential staff would have restrictions on owning their own home.

 

I like the sentiment of wanting to attract investment, but words are just words. Show the world that Thailand can be trusted as a progressive, investment option and business will arrive without any further effort. Pretty much every large international business was once a much smaller local business.

[Shop mak]

Thailand, the land of hubs.

Reminds me, I must ask a thai, what is it with the word HUB that excite them so much?

(except P...HUB)

 

Monthly it seems, another incredible amazing (P)Hub idea comes up

(Pun intended)

 

[Doctor Tom]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

Absolute nonsense. I work for a fully foreign owned BOI company. More info here: ○ BOI : The Board of Investment of Thailand

Have you actually bothered to read this link?  It s full of restrictions, requirements  and criteria for business investment in Thailand,  just as I stated.  At least read it yourself before [putting it forward as evidence of your clearly wrong  views. 

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

Really?  Then why hasn't it happened already? There are not 'loads of international wholly owned companies' in Thailand because the Law doesnt allow whole foreign ownership operation. They are all partnerships in one form or another.  

Completely and utterly wrong. I also work for a 100% fully foreign owned business here and it wasn't difficult to make happen. 

 

Quote

Even giants like international Law firms and accountancy firms have to abide by employment quotas and restrictive practices, which is why many don't stay, Tesco being one, Carrefour's another.  Guess why Toyota assemble cars here, under partnership? 

Tesco sold up as part of a global restructuring, nothing to do with employment quotas at all. How would employment quotas even affect a company as huge as that? You can imagine the board meeting: "We need to hire one more foreign executive in Thailand". "But how would we do that? We'd need to have at least four Thais working for us?".    

[Doctor Tom]

27 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Completely and utterly wrong. I also work for a 100% fully foreign owned business here and it wasn't difficult to make happen. 

and I would bet a good deal of money that the company was in a some kind of partnership arrangement with a Thai company and following Thai employment and investment rules.  I say again, it is not legally possible for a wholly owned foreign based company to operate in Thailand without following the BOI restrictions, requirements and criteria.  Thailand is far from an open house to foreign investment and it never will be. This is self evidently true and what I was saying in my first post . 

[Celsius]

2 hours ago, FritsSikkink said:

Absolute nonsense. I work for a fully foreign owned BOI company. More info here: ○ BOI : The Board of Investment of Thailand

 

Probably another one bleeding money because they have to hire 4 useless Thai staff for 1 foreigner.

[FritsSikkink]

33 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

Probably another one bleeding money because they have to hire 4 useless Thai staff for 1 foreigner.

You don't know what you are talking about. BOI companies don't need to hire 4 Thai staff for 1 foreigner.

Our Thai staff is much more intelligent and earn a lot more money than 90% of the people in this forum.

[FritsSikkink]

1 hour ago, Doctor Tom said:

Have you actually bothered to read this link?  It s full of restrictions, requirements  and criteria for business investment in Thailand,  just as I stated.  At least read it yourself before [putting it forward as evidence of your clearly wrong  views. 

Bigger companies don't have any issues investing 30+ million THB. Like I said before I WORK for one and know many others. Get of your bar stool more often as that is where you probably get your only info from.

[Celsius]

1 hour ago, FritsSikkink said:

You don't know what you are talking about. BOI companies don't need to hire 4 Thai staff for 1 foreigner.

 

Major BS. Even Siemens where my ex wife worked on BTS project had to hire 4 Thai staff per 1 foreigner. Of course they have many Thai staff work for them, so it is not an issue.

 

My current wife deals with many Japanese companies and they struggle every time Thai staff leaves because they immediately have to look for a replacement. 

 

So thanks for confirming that that you don't work for BOI company and probably don't work at all and just making up stories. 

 

OR

 

Your company is doing something illegal.... oops

 

 

[HandsomeTallFarang]

Yup, the only international business hub where the suits and ties will be accosted for money constantly by the bums and beggars that the governor does nothing about.

 

But keep dreaming about being a world-class city one day, just as soon as you fix the streets flooding constantly over less than an afternoon's worth of rain.

[StayinThailand2much]

2 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

I say again, it is not legally possible for a wholly owned foreign based company to operate in Thailand without following the BOI restrictions, requirements and criteria. 

Possibly why Carrefour (and others) left as they were severely restricted in their expansion which made their investments here unviable.

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

and I would bet a good deal of money that the company was in a some kind of partnership arrangement with a Thai company and following Thai employment and investment rules. 

Well you'd be wrong, again. I was the one who did the BOI application, I set up the company, I know exactly who the shareholders are and that we are in no way a partnership with any Thai company. 

 

Quote

I say again, it is not legally possible for a wholly owned foreign based company to operate in Thailand without following the BOI restrictions, requirements and criteria.

Hmmm, now you state you have to follow BOI rules, well done for sneaking that in to weaken your stance. Yes, we do have BOI rules to follow but actually they are not restrictive - the BOI exist to encourage foreign investment. See, before you said this, so well done on softening your ludicrous stand:

 

Quote

There are not 'loads of international wholly owned companies' in Thailand because the Law doesnt allow whole foreign ownership operation. They are all partnerships in one form or another. 

....which is 100% untrue.

 

 

 

 

 

[josephbloggs]

40 minutes ago, Celsius said:

 

Major BS. Even Siemens where my ex wife worked on BTS project had to hire 4 Thai staff per 1 foreigner. Of course they have many Thai staff work for them, so it is not an issue.

 

My current wife deals with many Japanese companies and they struggle every time Thai staff leaves because they immediately have to look for a replacement. 

 

So thanks for confirming that that you don't work for BOI company and probably don't work at all and just making up stories. 

 

OR

 

Your company is doing something illegal.... oops

 

 

Another one who has no idea what they are talking about.

 

I run a BOI company and have done since it was established (I did the BOI application myself so I know them and their rules very well). We have never needed four Thais to each foreigner, nor do we need 1m THB capital investment for each foreigner (as non BOI companies do). For the first year we had more foreigners than Thais, now we are about 40-60 foreigner-Thai, way short of a 4 to 1 ratio. And we are a 100% foreign owned business. We are also allowed to buy land although we haven't and won't.

You have to rightly justify each position and we have never had a refusal or a question and all our foreigners have had multiple visa and work permit renewals. And yes, they encourage you over time to train Thais which we also do, but that 4-1 ratio DOES NOT EXIST for BOI companies. Please don't post false information.

[Celsius]

33 minutes ago, josephbloggs said:

Another one who has no idea what they are talking about.

 

Ok.... I stand corrected about BOI.

 

....which is an investment visa and has nothing to do with real companies operating in Thailand.

 

Every single company needs 4 Thai staff to 1 foreigner.

 

No exceptions, 

[Jelli]

Complicated visas, nanny check-ins, no health insurance, protectionist laws, courts unfair and biased, no real rule of law, bad economy, nation indebted.

 

War in Europe

Most westerners are reeling economically

China is about to take a bath

India hasn't a prayer

Arabs have Dubai

[varun]

Lots of international demand (and supply) on lower Suk after midnight

 

 

 

[josephbloggs]

2 hours ago, Celsius said:

Ok.... I stand corrected about BOI.

 

....which is an investment visa and has nothing to do with real companies operating in Thailand.

Errrr, what?? What are you talking about, you are making no sense at all. The BOI is an "investment visa" and "nothing to do with real companies operating in Thailand"??  Do you even know what the BOI is and what it does? It is not a visa.  Seriously, why keep going?

 

"I stand corrected but then I'm going to say something immediately afterwards which means I clearly don't."

 

Quote

Every single company needs 4 Thai staff to 1 foreigner.

 

No exceptions, 

....and there you go again, repeating the same falsehood after I just gave you the most clear information and examples, and after you said you stand corrected. Wow, just wow.

[Bim Smith]

Bangkok. The Hub if international criminal gangs and scam artists. Is there a visa for that. The Hubba bubba visa. 10 year visa and live the life of luxury. All are welcome. 

[heybuz]

Singapore is laughing,????

[neeray]

The red light district in all its forms are sure to embrace this initiative. They'll give it a "head" up. (Correction: heads up)

[DjSilver]

What a joke. Just thst Thais want to scam and overprice anything they can 

[hotchilli]

17 hours ago, webfact said:

The governor of Bangkok has ambitious hopes of turning the Thai capital into a hub for international business. Chadchart Sittipunt says transforming Bangkok into a foreign business hub can only benefit everyone, through job creation and income generation

If you want private people to seriously come here to open businesses and work then adapt the immigration laws, no-one in their right mind is going to invest heavily and only get a measly long term visa in return.

Time Thailand opened up to the world.

[ThaiFelix]

18 hours ago, Doctor Tom said:

This is laughable.  For this to succeed they will have to loosen so many restrictive laws on employment, investment and ownership.  This will never happen. 

plus everybody else learn to speak Thai

[thailand49]

Just another smoke and mirror politician outside of a speech or photo op he is powerless he works and represents the corruptions.

[mania2301]

Hub day