‘Bio-economy’ to draw Bt400 bn
The government on January 23 announced the launch of its ambitious “bio-economy” scheme, which it expects to draw Bt400 billion worth of investment from the private sector during the next 10 years. Speaking at the signing ceremony for a memorandum of understanding between the public and private sectors and educational and research institutes to kick off the programme, Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak said the planned “Biopolis”, a core part of the scheme, would be better than Singapore’s, since unlike that country, Thailand could leverage on its agricultural sector. Bio-industry is one of the 10 targeted industries that the government is striving to promote as new economic growth engines. Prasert Bunsumpun, chairman of PTT Global Chemical, in his capacity as private-sector head of the steering committee on cluster development for new growth industries, said the project would be implemented in three phases.
