Thaksin pledges aid with investments

Updated: 2008-04-10 07:30 Thailand's former prime minister, billionaire Thaksin Shinawatra, hosted an economic forum yesterday where he pledged to use his foreign business contacts to spur investment in the country.

"Through good connections with my friends, I will do my best to attract as many foreign investors as possible to invest in Thailand," Thaksin told business leaders attending the forum, hosted by his charitable foundation.

Indian billionaire Lakshmi Mittal, chief executive of steel giant ArcelorMittal, later addressed the forum, saying his firm was looking for opportunities to tap Thai steel demand.

"Thailand is one of our top priority targets," said Mittal, who met Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej before giving the speech.

Senior ministers from the Samak's coalition government and owners of top Thai banks and industrial conglomerates were also attending the gathering.

Thaksin, facing graft charges and banned from politics for five years after he was ousted in a bloodless 2006 coup, repeatedly insists his political career is over.

But as yesterday's event at a Bangkok luxury hotel showed, Thaksin is never far from the public eye.

In his speech, he called for higher government spending and more private investment to help the Thai economy resist a global economic downturn.

"With our strong baht, the government must invest in manufacturing technology for the private sector or we will lose this window of opportunity," said Thaksin, who returned in February from 18 months of exile.

Samak, who said during a December election campaign he was running as a proxy of Thaksin, has pledged 950 billion baht ($30 billion) on road and rail projects over the next five years.

Despite a slowdown in the United States, Thailand's biggest export market, the government last month upped its forecast for 2008 economic growth by 0.5 percentage point to 5.0-6.0 percent, thanks to public spending and improving consumer confidence.

Property was a good bet for foreign investors, he said, singling out the capital Bangkok and the southern tourist resort island of Phuket.

"We must come up with an idea to lure billionaires' money flooding the world. Real estate is the best bet," he said.

Thaksin, free on bail while facing charges of illegally allowing his wife to buy a prime plot of land in Bangkok from the central bank, said Mittal's speech would inspire Thais to invest outside their borders.

"There are plenty of opportunities for Thais globally," said Thaksin, who paid $159.5 million for English Premier League soccer club Manchester City in 2007 and vowed on yesterday to use the club's brand for Thai products sold globally.

Analysts say Thailand's political scene remains divided as ever, with the next potential flashpoint a bid by Samak's six-party coalition government to amend the military-designed constitution.

Thaksin did not comment on politics except to urge his supporters and opponents to put aside their differences.

"There is no point sending a signal of conflict and violence to the outside world. We must send out positive signals that Thailand is peaceful to lure capital to the country," he said.

Agencies

(China Daily 04/10/2008 page10)

....the come back king ....positioning himself