Colombia reaches out for Thai investments

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INTERVIEW
Colombia reaches out for Thai investments
Kumar Krishnan
The Nation

BANGKOK: -- Thailand is firmly in the sights of Colombia as the Latin American country reaches out to Asia and Southeast Asia in particular to boost trade relations, ambassador Andelfo Garcia told The Nation.

The embassy, in cooperation with the Federation of Thai Industries, is hosting a seminar tomorrow to make a pitch for Thai investment in Colombia.

"This will be the first major event between the two countries aimed at deepening the trade relationship and we're excited about moving forward," Garcia said.

After closing in 1999 because of the economic crisis, Colombia reopened its embassy in Thailand in 2013, with Colombian Foreign Minister Maria Angella Holguin Cuellar visiting Bangkok the same year.

"It took us some time to understand how everything works here. But now, I think, we have the momentum going," Garcia said.

A delegation of ProColombia, the institution of the Colombian government in charge of promoting foreign investment, exports and tourism, is visiting Bangkok to explore investment opportunities.

Juan Carlos Gonzalez, president of Investment Promotion, will chair the ProColombia delegation and speak on "Investment Opportunities for Thai Companies in Colombia" at Plaza Athenee Hotel tomorrow.

Colombia is one of the 30 largest economies in the world with a GDP of about US$380 billion (Bt13.64 trillion), and has been consistently among the fastest-expanding economies in South America.

With five embassies in Southeast Asia - Thailand, Singapore, Indonesia, Vietnam and Malaysia - there is a proactive outreach to Asean, especially with the upcoming Asean Economic Community.

"In the course of my meetings with businesses on both sides, I see potential for greater investment on both sides and even joint ventures. Like Thailand, Colombia is also strong in auto parts manufacture but there is room for complementarity."

At present, Colombia's exports to Thailand account for only about 1 per cent of its exports to the Asia-Pacific compared to almost 10 per cent to Singapore and 9 per cent within Asean compared to Singapore's 76 per cent. "There is enormous scope for much more," says the ambassador.

After Peru's and Chile's success in forging free trade agreements with Thailand, the ambassador believes "An FTA between Thailand and Colombia is waiting to happen," although it's not on the agenda at the moment.

"Since last year, we've been promoting the idea of organising focused business trips. Now, we're planning to have big business groups like CP and Central visit Colombia to explore opportunities," he added.

Bilateral trade amounts to only $300 million. Thailand mostly exports auto parts, machineries and electronics products, while Colombian exports to Thailand are mostly oil, leather, precious stones and emeralds. But the ambassador said Colombian coffee and wine would soon be tapping a niche market here with exclusive Colombian-coffee cafs also in the pipeline.

"Colombia is doing well despite the plunge in oil prices, although our rate of growth may not keep pace with the earlier years," Garcia said. Oil makes up more than 20 per cent of Colombian GDP.

"In spite of the setback due to the oil price, Colombia will still grow 3 per cent, making us the best performer in South America," Garcia said.

Minister for Tourism and Sport Kobkarn Wattanavrangkul will be signing a memorandum of understanding on cooperation in wellness tourism with Colombia on the sidelines of the World Tourism Organisation General Assembly in Medellin this month.

"This MoU is a result of almost a year of negotiations. We have a lot to learn from Thailand in tourism," Garcia said, adding Colombia receives some 5 million tourists compared with Thailand's 25 million-plus.

"We're also looking at the possibility of encouraging more tourism to both countries. Although, cost does become a factor because of the distance, I think it's possible to promote niche tourism," Garcia said.

Colombia is allowing visa-free travel to Thai nationals with a US or Schengen visa.

"We can liberalise it further in the future," the ambassador said, adding, "Although Thais travelling to South America are a small number, we're working on eliminating visa requirements for ordinary passport holders."

Last week, a delegation from Colombia visited leading private hospitals in Bangkok to learn about the medical facilities here and medical tourism.

"A private company is building Colombia's largest private hospital with about 1,000 beds in Bucaramanga, one of our biggest cities. They were highly impressed with what they saw and learnt a lot here. And I think the Thais were very generous in sharing information, ideas and giving them advise. We're looking to attract medical tourism from the US and Latin America," Garcia said.

This year, Thailand was given observer status in the Alliance of the Pacific, a primarily economic grouping of four of South America's east-coast countries - Chile, Colombia, Mexico and Peru.

From Asean, Singapore is the only other country with observer status.

"The group functions on the principles of open economy, investment-friendly and liberal economic policies," Garcia said.

He revealed that the alliance was in talks with Asean to forge closer connections.

"We can be mutually complementary and a bridge between two major regions of the world. And together, we could become the world's third-biggest economic grouping," he said.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Colombia-reaches-out-for-Thai-investments-30268844.html


-- The Nation 2015-09-16

[Somtamnication]

Thailand and its neighbours produce enough white stuff. No need for more.

[NOC]

Please import the wine, at reasonable prices, but please do not export the attitude...

[arfurcrown]

Well regarding the levels of''private enterprise'' within both the political and civil service fields along with ''pharmaceutical products'' and mule training industries of both countries they should be well able to mesh together without any problems; the profits gained by the mentioned entities will be greatly increased.

Edited September 15, 2015 by arfurcrown

[BigBadGeordie]

NACC & AMLO, also indicated that there would be growth in their workload should the links between the 2 countries be strengthend.

[wabothai]

"The Thai connection".

[Tomtomtom69]

Colombia really doesn't need any more Thai investment.

In what areas anyway?

What can Thailand offer?

First of all, when dealing with Thais, first it will all be pleasantries. Then you start following up and they occasionally deliver one liners like "we're still thinking about".

Then you follow up again and without telling you, they have quietly decided to back out of a deal, even though you can meet their requirements in terms of budget and all that.

In the meantime, it's a mine field trying to figure out what they want and since they aren't straight shooters, every tiny little scrap of information has to be "forced" out of them. And it keeps changing all the time.

Why would Colombia care about Thai investment? Thailand's economy is a backwater compared to other regional or global powers.

Just continue attracting the Chinese. They can actually get stuff done.

Thai investment in Colombia? Come on....do they even know who they are dealing with?

[ldiablo]

Would be good to get some of the good Columbian product available in Thailand.

[Jonmarleesco]

'... Colombia's exports to Thailand account for only about 1 per cent of its exports to the Asia-Pacific ...' That would exclude the grey market.

[AnnieT]

Sad state of affairs if the only external investment you can get is from Columbia.

How far are the mighty fallen?

[bangrak]

Thailand and its neighbours produce enough white stuff. No need for more.

Yep, Colombian caught with over 20kg. of 'talcum powder' at swampy today... Diplomatic mistake probably, maybe just 'a sample' as a present, as 'the concept' could be; you protect us, we bring our stuff in Thailand and sell it in bordering countries, the money comes back to Thailand, and is washed here and then 're-invested' in a legit way in Columbia, no 30% for you in the deal, better, more, a lot: we split halves with you! No doubt all would reject such a proposal...

[AnnieT]

Thailand and its neighbours produce enough white stuff. No need for more.

Yep, Colombian caught with over 20kg. of 'talcum powder' at swampy today... Diplomatic mistake probably, maybe just 'a sample' as a present, as 'the concept' could be; you protect us, we bring our stuff in Thailand and sell it in bordering countries, the money comes back to Thailand, and is washed here and then 're-invested' in a legit way in Columbia, no 30% for you in the deal, better, more, a lot: we split halves with you! No doubt all would reject such a proposal...

That's a really troubling speculation. Maybe Thailand is on the verge of being in some serious trouble. Can you imagine what the USA and China would think?

I venture to suggest Thailand doesn't want that kind of extra trouble, but I wonder how much influence the government has to prevent it... I imagine the market in Asia is huge.

[ratcatcher]

Sad state of affairs if the only external investment you can get is from Columbia.

How far are the mighty fallen?

British Columbia?