Thailand rolls out red carpet for Indian cos
Thailand is rolling out a red carpet for Indian companies to participate in trade fairs in the country.
By PTI |
BANGKOK: Thailand is rolling out a red carpet for Indian companies to participate in trade fairs in the country, even as it intends to become a premier exhibition hub in ASEAN by 2011.
"As forces of globalisation intensify...it provides Thailand excellent opportunities to capitalise on its strategic geographical advantage at the heart of a global market place of nearly three billion consumers," Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) Acting Director General Nipat Dithipen said.
TCEB is the government agency which promotes and markets Thai exhibition industry, which has clocked a 10-15 percent growth in its business from global fairs in the last few years.
The emergence of Thailand, as a 'hub of choice' for Indian companies, especially SMEs and mid-sized firms, is a result of "severe under-capacity" of their home country.
"Indian trade fair business is taking place in substandard facilities," Jochen Witt, President, UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry said.
"As a direct consequence, some of the Indian business is being exported to the Middle East, where top of the class facilities have been constructed over the past few years. However, if the Indians do their homework, we could see them competing with leading trade fair nations," he said.
TCEB said Indian manufacturers and traders coming to exhibitions and trade shows in Thailand can source suppliers for raw materials, upstream products as well as products from major producers spanning a wide range of industries, both from ASEAN and in other regions.
Currently, there are only 14 specialised exhibition centres, providing an indoor exhibition space of 205,785 square metres, with New Delhi and Mumbai alone representing 70 per cent of the nation's dedicated exhibition capacity, a UFI study noted.
This gives Thailand, which is number four in Asia in terms of fairground capacity, lots of space to capitalise on the meetings, incentive events, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector with a special focus on India.
Thailand is now home to six world class exhibition centres, offering a combined 260,000 square metres of gross space.
Some of the renowned centres are: IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre (IMPACT), Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC), The Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC), Central World Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Royal Paragon Hall and Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH).
TCEB is also working closely with Trade Exhibition Association (TEA) that represents 66 members, consisting organisers, venue-operators, contractors and freight forwarders, to facilitate the exhibition space.
According to David Aitken, general manager of Bangkok Exhibition Services, the company which organises Propak Asia, "This time we have received immense interest from India for Propak, making it second only to Malaysia in terms of pre- registered buyers in line with our achievements in 2006 edition where we hosted over 650 companies from 30 countries."
Indian companies like BSE-listed firm Supreme Industries, New Delhi-based S S Packaging Industries, Walzen Strips and ACG Worldwide have already taken part in Propak Asia 2007 hosted at BITEC.
"As forces of globalisation intensify...it provides Thailand excellent opportunities to capitalise on its strategic geographical advantage at the heart of a global market place of nearly three billion consumers," Thailand Convention and Exhibition Bureau (TCEB) Acting Director General Nipat Dithipen said.
TCEB is the government agency which promotes and markets Thai exhibition industry, which has clocked a 10-15 percent growth in its business from global fairs in the last few years.
The emergence of Thailand, as a 'hub of choice' for Indian companies, especially SMEs and mid-sized firms, is a result of "severe under-capacity" of their home country.
"Indian trade fair business is taking place in substandard facilities," Jochen Witt, President, UFI, the global association of the exhibition industry said.
"As a direct consequence, some of the Indian business is being exported to the Middle East, where top of the class facilities have been constructed over the past few years. However, if the Indians do their homework, we could see them competing with leading trade fair nations," he said.
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TCEB said Indian manufacturers and traders coming to exhibitions and trade shows in Thailand can source suppliers for raw materials, upstream products as well as products from major producers spanning a wide range of industries, both from ASEAN and in other regions.
Currently, there are only 14 specialised exhibition centres, providing an indoor exhibition space of 205,785 square metres, with New Delhi and Mumbai alone representing 70 per cent of the nation's dedicated exhibition capacity, a UFI study noted.
This gives Thailand, which is number four in Asia in terms of fairground capacity, lots of space to capitalise on the meetings, incentive events, conventions and exhibitions (MICE) sector with a special focus on India.
Thailand is now home to six world class exhibition centres, offering a combined 260,000 square metres of gross space.
ADVERTISEMENT
Some of the renowned centres are: IMPACT Exhibition and Convention Centre (IMPACT), Bangkok International Trade and Exhibition Centre (BITEC), The Queen Sirikit National Convention Centre (QSNCC), Central World Convention and Exhibition Centre, and Royal Paragon Hall and Pattaya Exhibition and Convention Hall (PEACH).
TCEB is also working closely with Trade Exhibition Association (TEA) that represents 66 members, consisting organisers, venue-operators, contractors and freight forwarders, to facilitate the exhibition space.
ADVERTISEMENT
According to David Aitken, general manager of Bangkok Exhibition Services, the company which organises Propak Asia, "This time we have received immense interest from India for Propak, making it second only to Malaysia in terms of pre- registered buyers in line with our achievements in 2006 edition where we hosted over 650 companies from 30 countries."
Indian companies like BSE-listed firm Supreme Industries, New Delhi-based S S Packaging Industries, Walzen Strips and ACG Worldwide have already taken part in Propak Asia 2007 hosted at BITEC.
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