Residential developments, hotels and factories are attractive for investment in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam, say experts, but interested investors need to seek the right partners and look closely at legal issues.
Siriporn Nurugsa, executive director of the Board of Investment (BoI), said big cities in these four countries would soon become regional economic centres.
"When big cities expand, they need infrastructure and transportation development. Housing, hotel, apartment and factory development are interesting for investment," she said.
Over the past three years, more Thais have invested overseas. Last year overseas foreign direct investment from Thai investors totalled about US$15 billion, according to the Bank of Thailand.
Only 1% was injected into the property sector. More than two-thirds was put into manufacturing and mining. More than a quarter was invested in nine Asean countries.
"We may lose an opportunity if we enter Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam too late, as Japanese, Chinese and Korean investors are already there," Ms Siriporn told a seminar yesterday.
A BoI study showed that property was one of the 11 most attractive industries for investment. It also showed that the top three countries for investment are Indonesia, Vietnam and Myanmar, ranked by market size, labour and resources.
Thanong Bidaya, former finance minister, said investment opportunities in Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar and Vietnam were attractive because of their high economic growth, cross-border transactions and low labour costs.
These markets are huge with a combined 170 million people but need long-term capital investment.
"We should understand their gradualist approach to economic transition in joining the global and regional market," Mr Thanong said. "They welcome investors from other countries because they need to balance the influence of big neighbours like China and India."