The Deputy Prime Minister for Economic Affairs has traveled to China to invite Chinese investors to Thailand’s eastern Special Economic Zones (SEZ) ahead of a Cabinet meeting set to discuss acts pertaining to the area.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak is on his first official visit to China since assuming his role in the Cabinet. The trip was established with the purpose to attract investment from China to Thailand and is to start with a meeting with some of China’s largest real estate firms.

Major companies such as Huawei have already expressed their interest in Thailand with the mobile phone maker looking to set up a research and development base in Thailand to establish a presence in the CLMV and ASEAN market.

China Fortune Land and Development and ICBC Bank both made known they are interested in investing in the Thailand’s eastern SEZ, which is set to have new legislation passed in support of attracting investors. While in China, Somkid is also to lead his delegation to visit the Shanghai Free Trade Zone so that they may observe its operation for possible applications in Thailand.

In the first 4 months of this year, China was the third most frequent source of requests for investment assistance in Thailand with 26 projects worth 75 billion baht seeking to enter the Kingdom.