Thailand’s capital market regulator has investment vehicles ready to facilitate the connectivity of stock markets in the Greater Mekong Subregion GMS.
Securities and Exchange Commission SEC Secretary-General Vorapol Socatiyanurak told participants at Thailand investment conference on opportunities and challenges for Thailand as the Greater Mekong Region develops and evolves that Bangkok can become a centre connecting bourses in GMS countries with growth potential.
The GMS comprises Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan province.Mr Vorapol said that SEC investment vehicles support the development of stock markets in the region and provide a channel for prospective investors to make indirect investments in the regional markets.
Among the investment instruments being readied are infrastructure funds, private equity funds, holding companies, real estate investment trusts and securities.
via Thailand ready for bourse link-up with Mekong subregion.
Thailand boosts infrastructure investment in Mekong region
BANGKOK, Oct 5 – Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra said on Friday that Thailand is investing in mega-projects to develop infrastructure and improve water management to make itself ready to become a connecting nation and a hub of food distribution among countries in the Mekong subregion.
The Thai premier spoke at a keynote speech at the Thailand investment conference on “Opportunities and Challenges of Thailand in the Evolution and Development of Greater Mekong Region” in the Thai capital this morning.
Ms Yingluck said the GMS countries have continued their economic development over the past two decades. At their last meeting, held in Myanmar, the premier said member countries agreed to cooperate to strengthen regional economic growth in the next four years.
The GMS comprises Thailand, Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam and China’s Yunnan province.
The Thai premier said the GMS is considered a crucial sub-region for ASEAN development and connectivity, especially as Myanmar is now open to the world community, so the GMS attracts more investors to the region.
The GMS countries agreed to boost their connections in transportation, trade and investment, paving the way for the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) in 2015, she said.
Thailand, as the centre of this region, Ms Yingluck said, has played an important role to link the transportation, and investment. It has invested US$90 billion in megaprojects in basic infrastructure, as well as short and long term water management projects to enable Thailand become the food distribution centre to other ASEAN countries.
Source: MCOT News Online and ADB.org
The Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) is a natural economic area bound together by the Mekong River, covering 2.6 million square kilometers and a combined population of around 326 million.
The GMS countries are Cambodia, the People’s Republic of China (PRC, specifically Yunnan Province and Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region), Lao People’s Democratic Republic (Lao PDR), Myanmar, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
In 1992, with assistance from ADB, the six countries entered into a program of subregional economic cooperation, designed to enhance economic relations among the countries.
With support from ADB and other donors, the GMS Program helps the implementation of high priority subregional projects in transport, energy, telecommunications, environment, human resource development, tourism, trade, private sector investment, and agriculture.
Substantial progress has been achieved in terms of implementing GMS projects since 1992. Priority infrastructure projects worth around US$10 billion have either been completed or are being implemented. Among these are the upgrading of the Phnom Penh (Cambodia)-Ho Chi Minh City (Viet Nam) highway and the East-West Economic Corridor that will eventually extend from the Andaman Sea to Da Nang.
The subregion embraces flora and fauna that have expanded northward along the Malay Peninsula into Thailand, encroached upon the high mountains from the Himalayas, or advanced along the broad river valleys as dry deciduous forests similar to those of India. Ten million years of changing sea levels have left a rich legacy of unique life forms that have evolved in isolation on the Cardamom and Annamite mountains of Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Viet Nam.
