The Stock Exchange of Thailand’s (SET) president, Mr. Kittiratt Na-Ranong, announced the details of the planned conference after meeting with the Thailand Focus organizing team. This group included the members of the Federation of Thai Capital Market Organizations (FTCO: the Association of Securities Companies, Association of Investment Management Companies, Listed Companies’ Association, Securities Analysts Association, and the Thai Investors’ Association) and listed companies’ executives, including those from companies included in the SET50 Index. The Finance Minister, Dr. Somkid Jatusripitak, kindly chaired this meeting in preparation for the ‘Thailand Focus 2004’, which will draw several hundred overseas institutional investors and securities analysts to Thailand.
“The Thailand Focus 2004 Conference will be held on September 20 – 23, 2004, at the Four Seasons Hotel, Rajadamri Road, Bangkok. Its aim is to present information on Thailand’s economic and industrial advancements whilst securing the trust of the nearly 300 institutional investors and analysts from North America, Europe and Asia, as well as over 150 local fund managers and institutional investors, who will attend the event.
Today’s meeting has assured us about the readiness of all parties participating in the hosting of ‘Thailand Focus 2004’. We are confident that our invited foreign investment professionals will gain the necessary insight into Thailand’s economic potential. We are also confident that our guests will receive a better understanding of, and appreciation for, the business and market strategies of Thailand and its large-scale businesses. These strategies will be effectively conveyed to our foreign guests by the top-level public and private sector executives participating in the event,” the SET President said.
The Chairman of the FTCO, Mr. Suthep Peetakanont, said that the event will provide opportunities to a total of 47 listed companies, plus those firms in the ‘SET50 Index’, companies in the process of listing on the Exchange, and multi-national firms to present their organization’s operational performances, business plans, and operational activities in both conference room and in one-on-one meetings.
“We are deeply honored that the Thai Prime Minister, Pol. Lt. Col. Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, will kindly give the opening remarks and a keynote address for the conference. The Prime Minister’s keynote address is entitled ‘Enhancing Thailand’s Competitiveness - Key Achievements and Challenges Ahead’. The Ministers of the Finance, Energy, Industry, Interior, and Information and Communications Technology Ministries; the Bank of Thailand Governor and the President of the Government Housing Bank will also join in providing information to the attendees,” Mr.Suthep said.
In addition to the presentations and one-on-one meetings, participating foreign attendees will visit the country’s large-scale projects on-site, e.g., the Suvarnabhumi Airport, several of our industrial estates, and many listed firms, since these all represent Thailand’s production bases.
The Chairman of FTCO said confidently that: “‘Thailand Focus’ is the first of its kind in Thailand. Hence, it will be an important national-level event that will show global institutions the country’s full investment potential.
The cooperation between the public and private sectors this time is very important so that we can show international institutions and analysts, who represent the investors from the world’s leading fund sources, the true potential of Thailand and that Thai businesses are ready for more development and future competition. We hope to show at this conference Thailand’s political, economic, and social stability, which are all important factors affecting foreign investors’ decisions on their long-term investments.”
