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Foreign Investment and Investment Arbitration: Thailand in Deluge

from PART I - NATIONAL REPORTS

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  30 March 2019

By
Suparb Vongkiatkachorn
Edited by
Carlos Esplugues
Suparb Vongkiatkachorn
Affiliation:
A former co-managing partner of the Bangkok office of Freshfields Bruckhaus Deringer
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Summary

INTRODUCTION

This chapter deals principally with the equity capital form of foreign direct investment (FDI) that reflects a lasting interest and control by a foreign direct investor, as opposed to foreign portfolio investment. There is no intention here to prove whether FDI inflow to Thailand is better or worse than other measures for her economic growth and development and inequality and poverty reduction. Nor whether inward FDI would be attracted or maintained as a result of international investment agreements or any particular elements thereof or measures related thereto. Lastly, nor whether Thailand has made enough progress in respect of her various international commitments. Opinion or comments expressed or implied here cannot be regarded as legal advice which must be obtained for a particular case when all specific and relevant facts have been ascertained and considered.

Reportedly,

Thailand, the second largest economy in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) after Indonesia, is an upper middle-income country with pro-investment policies and a well-developed and growing infrastructure platform. … Thailand continues to maintain an open, market-oriented economy and encourages foreign direct investment (FDI) as a means of promoting economic development, employment, and technology transfer. In recent decades, Thailand has been a major destination for FDI; and hundreds of U.S. companies have invested successfully in the Thai economy. Thailand continues to welcome investment from all countries and seeks to avoid dependence on any one country as a source of investment. … The Thai government maintains a regulatory framework that broadly encourages investment.

Moreover, in June 2017, the World Bank ranked Thailand as the 26th country on’ ease of doing business’. According to the Bank of Thailand (Thailand's central bank), the total FDI in Thailand in 2017 (updated as of 31 August 2017) was USD 5,118.43 million.

BACKDROP

In the past Thailand signed a number of international investment agreements (IIAs) 5 of the early type of bilateral investment agreement (BIT), 6 i.e. the treaty of friendship, commerce and navigation, 7 with many countries.

Type
Chapter
Information
Foreign Investment and Investment Arbitration in Asia
, pp. 273 - 298
Publisher: Intersentia
Print publication year: 2019

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