‘Open for business’: Thailand’s ‘salesman’ Prime Minister Srettha travels world wide to woo investors

“The most urgent task of this government is to get the economy back on the right track and ensure Thailand’s long-term success,” Srettha told a conference of Thai and foreign entrepreneurs and diplomats on November 1.

“Thailand is now open and ready for business. There is no better time to invest in Thailand than now,” he said.

While his nine trips around the world, during which he met with leaders, litigation firms and investments, were applauded and earned him the nickname “prime minister seller” among technocrats and business groups, analysts question whether the frenetic activity and drive to build mega infrastructure projects will deliver real results without much needed economic reforms.

Next week, Srettha will hit the road again in an attempt to block investment commitments from Big Tech in the US when she visits San Francisco as part of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation summit.

In December he will be in Japan, where he will persuade the largest foreign investor in the country to deepen its investments in Thailand.

In particular, it will signal that the “Detroit of Asia” continues to value Japanese automakers even as Chinese EV makers increasingly challenge their dominance in the Thai market.

At home, the 61-year-old moves between boardrooms and podiums, where he tells foreign companies and investors his dreams for Thailand – making it a regional center for high-tech and high-value manufacturing – and makes well-rehearsed pleas on their behalf to help make it a reality.

He promises that his administration will lead the nation through the “polycrisis” of a stagnant economy and what many say is a fragmented world order.

Thailand is also grappling with soaring public debt, record high household debt and an aging population that threatens the country’s productivity.

Sretta’s level of success will have an impact on the popularity of his Pheu Thai party, which faces a fierce battle with the upstart Forward Movement party, which won the most seats in May’s general election but was sidelined by the opposition.

Srettha said his approach, which he calls “proactive economic diplomacy”, is crucial to laying the foundations for medium- and long-term economic growth in the country and encouraging trade deals and foreign investment. He said more free trade agreements needed to be negotiated urgently.

Thailand’s economy is sluggish, and a series of military coups and political instability are undermining investor confidence.

Over the past decade, the country has attracted less foreign direct investment than peers such as Vietnam, Malaysia and Indonesia, and last year it had the slowest growth rate among major Southeast Asian economies.

“Every sector must first understand that the economy is in quite a bad shape and that requires stimulus measures,” Srettha said in a television program on Thursday to evaluate his government’s performance.

Cost of living “is an enormous issue and the federal government is doing the whole lot it will probably to assist,” he said.

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Srettha appears to be taking an approach much like Philippine President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr – traveling the world to spice up business and investment – but doubts remain whether the outcomes shall be different, said Peter Mumford, head of the Southeast Asia practice at consultancy Eurasia Group .

“While this appears to be a shift in emphasis compared to the last Thai administration, the policy approach remains broadly the same: boost tourism, continue with similar infrastructure plans and push for more investment,” Mumford said.

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“It is worth noting that the Sretha government has yet to show signs of supporting investment with bold economic reforms” or joining the broad-based Asia-Pacific trade deal, often called CPTPP, to spice up Thailand’s competitiveness.

Instead, Thailand joined the Regional Comprehensive Economic Partnership, the world’s largest trade deal – led by China – under the leadership of Prayuth Chan-ocha, a former army chief who led his country for nine years after a 2014 coup.

Sretta’s experience within the private sector appears to encourage a confidence not seen under Prayuth. He has already traversed North America, Southeast Asia, North Asia and the Middle East, taking up big businesses from Elon Musk’s Tesla and Space X to Microsoft and Alphabet’s Google.

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He shook hands with world leaders, from US President Joe Biden to Russian President Vladimir Putin and China’s Xi Jinping.

The centerpiece of Srettha’s recent offers to foreign investors is a mega infrastructure project called Land Bridge, which can connect planned deep-water ports within the Gulf of Thailand and the Andaman Sea – on the east and west coasts of Thailand’s southern region – to enable maritime transport of products to cross the country by land .

The 1 trillion baht ($28 billion) project has attracted interest from China and Saudi Arabia, he said. Its construction is scheduled to begin in 2025 and take five years.

“Many companies already know the facts and figures, but approach the conversation to get assurance from us. They want to hear directly from our No. 1 that Thailand will support their projects,” said Narit Therdsteerasukdi, secretary general of the Thailand Investment Board. “What it does is it gives them confidence and that seals the deal.”

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In recent weeks, Narit accompanied Srettha and joined his business delegations to fulfill with 25 current and potential investors within the US, China and Saudi Arabia.

He has established a “special operation” inside the investment promotion agency to specifically goal strategic investments and track Srettha on his overseas missions to dam influential investors.

In three subsequent posts on X, Srettha hinted that he would sign deals with Microsoft and Google during his upcoming trip to the United States. He also wrote about “reaching cooperation” with Space X as soon as possible.

“Please wait for news in mid-November,” he said. “You will soon be able to follow further progress.”