Bangkok Post – relaxed rules to attract more investors

The government will facilitate the necessary procedures and provide more incentives to attract foreign investors in the film, food and pharmaceutical industries.

Tongthong Chandransu, chairman of the Ease of Doing Business Regulatory Reform Committee, said on Friday that progress has been made in amending laws and regulations that restrict the activities of various businesses.

The goal is to continue government policies that make it easier for more businesses to run, making companies more confident and competitive internationally, he said.

He added that one of the key goals is to ease legal restrictions imposed on music festivals and foreign film productions.

They currently generate about 7 billion baht in annual revenue, but the easing of measures is expected to raise that to 12 billion baht.

Supportive measures included visa exemption for Chinese nationals who enter the country as members of a foreign film crew, Tongthong said.

He said Chinese film productions invested 471.98 million baht in Thailand last year, ranking the country third after the United States and Hong Kong.

Work is currently underway to amend the Ministry of Labor’s regulations regarding work permits and notifications for foreign workers so that film coordinators in Thailand can receive work permits on behalf of their teams, Tongthong said, noting that the entire operation should be finalized by August.

The amendment is also intended to facilitate the issuance of urgent permits to music festival crews and concert artists.

He added that work is also underway to establish a comprehensive border trade processing center in Nong Khai. The aim is to improve and strengthen import-export control using an electronic system. The center is scheduled to open on October 1.

The Department of Business Development is also preparing to propose exemptions from work permits for foreign workers in 10 industries, including: in telecommunications and oil extraction.

Dr. Narong Apikulwanich, secretary general of the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), said the FDA has come up with initiatives to reduce double authorization of pharmaceutical drugs that have been reviewed to foreign standards.

The initiative could speed up the approval process from 300 to 90 days, he said.

An e-services system has also been developed to shorten the approval process in areas such as food, pharmaceuticals, medical devices, and registration of enterprises and products, he noted.

Thanks to this, the permit can be obtained within 24 hours, he added.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin posted on her X account that one of the government’s programs is to boost foreign direct investment, especially by improving the ease of doing business in the country.

“We not only want to facilitate procedures and provide incentives for the film industry, but also to shorten the processing time of registration applications for the food and pharmaceutical industries,” wrote the Prime Minister.