The Industry Ministry is courting Canadian officials and investors to take part in public-private partnerships (PPPs) as the government attempts to fund a variety of economic recovery infrastructure projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC).
Industry Minister Suriya Jungrungreangkit said the ministry yesterday discussed potential partnerships and cooperation on an agricultural project with Canadian ambassador Sarah Taylor.
"Canada is a big player in agriculture and an expert in high technology that compliments Thailand's Smart Farmer scheme," Mr Suriya said.
The minister said Canada could support the project by sharing its technology, building on the good diplomatic relationship between the countries.
The government launched the Smart Farmer scheme a few years ago to improve Thailand's agriculture sector with the aim of developing more organic farming and processing high-value-added agricultural products.
Canada plans to host a seminar this November to discuss PPPs for new projects with a variety of countries and investors.
"This year, Canada will hold the seminar online due to the Covid-19 outbreak," Mr Suriya said. "It's an opportunity for Thailand and other countries to find financial support for economic rehabilitation projects and the government's infrastructure investment projects during the pandemic."
The Thai government recently announced the development of 168 new infrastructure projects worth 988 billion baht in total, separated by a PPP budget of 583 billion baht (or 59%) from third-party investors, 296 billion baht (30%) from the government, 98 billion baht (or 10%) from state enterprises, and the remaining 1% from the navy.
The government is promoting five projects in particular that are the cornerstone of EEC development: the high-speed railway linking three airports (225 billion baht); the U-tapao aviation city (290 billion baht); a maintenance, repair and overhaul (MRO) centre (10.6 billion baht); the third phase of Laem Chabang seaport (114 billion baht); and the third phase of Map Ta Phut seaport (55.4 billion baht).
The ministry is touting the government's effective pandemic response to the Canadians as an additional incentive for investment.