BANGKOK — Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra delivered her New Year 2025 message highlighting Thailand’s resilience through floods and economic challenges in 2024. She emphasized how Thai unity helped overcome these difficulties.
She declared 2025 as the “Year of Opportunity,” promising better economic access and success opportunities for all Thai citizens.
Investment will be one of the most important economic drivers under her government, according to Dr. Prommin Lertsuridej, Secretary General of the Prime Minister.
Dr. Prommin represented the government in an interview with Prachachat Business to discuss the progress of plans to attract foreign investment in 2025. These efforts reflect the particular working style of the Pheu Thai-led government.
He stated that the government has drawn up a plan to attract foreign direct investment in future industries and expects investment to increase by around 300-500 billion baht. In addition, more than 700 billion baht will be allocated for government spending in three key ministries, alongside regulatory reforms to facilitate private sector investment.
The government will also manage state assets and state-owned enterprise investments according to the outlined plans.
“Investment is the most important driver of economic growth. We need to focus entirely on the industries of the future. We are attracting data centers to the country, including AWS, Google, Microsoft and Huawei, which are already investing in Thailand.
However, we are not just talking about simple data centers as part of the AI ecosystem. Instead, we are targeting comprehensive AI investments that extend to AI production facilities as part of the global future.
In our conversations with Jensen Huang, CEO of NVIDIA, he clearly stated that AI is the language that enables people to communicate with technology. It is a new global frontier where all countries start on an equal footing, providing equal opportunities for investment and profit,” said Dr. Prommin.
The Secretary General emphasized that efforts to attract investors to future industries will continue. The government also wants to accelerate investment in semiconductor companies and prioritize R&D business clusters. For example, Delta, a company specializing in semiconductors and R&D, is working with universities to develop talent instead of working in isolation. Similarly, Apple, AWS and Microsoft have expressed their clear intention to focus on human resource development.
AI Training and Job Creation for One Million People
Dr. Prommin also explained the investments made by major technology companies in Thailand. Huawei has signed a memorandum of understanding for talent development, aiming to produce 10,000 AI specialists annually over a five-year period. Microsoft, meanwhile, expects to train and employ up to one million people. As people become familiar with AI, they will use it effectively to improve their livelihoods, making AI a cornerstone of investment in 2025.
“The investments initiated under the Srettha Thavisin government are beginning to bear fruit. Currently, AWS has opened its third data center in Thailand. Our goal is therefore not only to expand investment in data centers, but to increase it further,” he added.
Five Key Sectors for Investment Expansion
In addition to data centers and artificial intelligence, the government has identified three other key sectors for foreign investment, which together form five priority industries to secure Thailand’s future.
“Another area where investment is planned is the electric vehicle (EV) industry. We also want to develop precision agriculture technologies to support modern technology-driven agriculture, or AgriTech. This includes the improvement and refinement of agricultural raw materials to produce high-quality food, leading to FoodTech. These sectors are seen as critical to the country’s future,” said Dr. Prommin.
Regulatory Reforms to Attract Investment
To facilitate private sector investment at home and abroad, the government plans to streamline processes and remove obstacles to achieve tangible results and accelerate economic growth.
Dr. Prommin explained, “We are focusing on improving the ease of doing business. Regulatory barriers will be removed and processes such as obtaining approvals will be expedited. For example, the approval process for investment promotion applications will be shortened from the previous long timeframe to six months. The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval process will also be shortened from 180 days to 90 days.”
“Switzerland of Asia”
Dr. Prommin concluded by stating that Thailand must take appropriate advantage of geopolitical challenges. In the midst of global trade and political conflicts, Thailand takes a neutral stance and compares itself to the “Switzerland of Asia”,” a place of freedom and a hub for negotiations, such as between China and the US during the trade war talks.
“Our strategy is clear: we need to make Thailand an attractive investment destination by reforming regulations and leveraging our geographical advantage. We must actively solicit investment by pursuing a precise and friendly foreign policy. Thailand wants to be an active promoter of peace and shared prosperity, promoting economic growth and shared prosperity of all nations,” he said.
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