Thailand remains an attractive investment destination for Japanese, European and Asean investors despite its political uncertainty, with 635 investment projects worth Bt221 billion received during the first nine months of 2008, compared to 604 in the same period last year.

Dr Atchaka Sibunruang Brimble, secretary-general of the Board of Investment (BOI), said here today that most of the new projects are net applications from Japan (245 projects), Europe (118 projects), and Asean (95 projects).

She said the ongoing political crisis hardly has any impact on investors' confidence, particularly European investors as BOI overseas offices in Europe confirmed that a number of European investors still continue to seek investment counselling and are under investment decision-making process.

But despite the surge in applications, the total value of investment has actually dropped by 33.8 percent, from Bt335 billion in the first nine months of 2007, to just Bt221 billion for the corresponding period this year.

According to the BOI, the net European investment applications during the first nine months of 2008 surged by 18.5 percent to Bt42 billion compared to Bt34.2 billion in the same period last year.

A number of Dutch investors are currently considering to invest in the shipbuilding industry in the kingdom while French investors are focusing on alternative energy and research and development, and Italian investors on machinery industry.

The Dutch also remained the number one European investors in Thailand, with the total value of net applications increasing by 89.8 percent from Bt2.5 billion between January and September 2007 to Bt24.6 billion during the same period this year.

British and French investments also increased significantly. The total value of net applications from French investors increased by 73.7 percent from Bt442 million during January to September 2007 to Bt1.7 billion this year while British investment surged by 64.36 percent from Bt1.5 billion (January-September 2007) to Bt4.33 billion in 2008.

As part of its strategy to attract more investments, Atchaka said the BOI was speeding up the opening of six new overseas offices within 2009, with the first new office opening this month in Taipei, followed by Sydney, Beijing, Seoul, Guangzhou and Stockholm.

According to the draft plan for 2009, the BOI will draw investment from Japans automotive, electronics and electrical, Europes alternative energy and biotech industries, Taiwans electronics, agro-industries and biotechnology, and Chinas automotive, electronics and electrical, food and agricultural and alternative energy industries.

Thailand is also seeking Australia's information and communications technology (ICT) and software, automotive and green industries, and India's food and agricultural, electrical and electronics, automotive and textile industries, Atchaka said.

"We are also looking into other investors' demands as shown in our latest survey, including investors recommendation on additional incentives for industrial gas, hotel renovation businesses, for instance," she said.