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Mitsui & Co. Thailand President Kenji Shirasaki (left) with
Noboru Katsu, executive vice president and general manager
for the steel division |
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Japanese business has long been welcomed and respected in the Kingdom of Thailand. One does not have to look further than Mitsui & Co.’s 100-year history in the country for proof of that.
Since 1906, Mitsui’s core activities have evolved from basic commodity trading to on-the-ground domestic joint ventures in various fields from steel to plastics and petrochemicals.
‘‘In the past, trading houses would facilitate Japanese companies looking to Thailand for business. Now they can do this themselves. So trading companies are wiser to invest in local companies with our R&D and technological know-how’’ says President Kenji Shirasaki, who is in his second term as the company’s head in the country.
Upon assuming his new term, Shirasaki identified three priority areas to address — internal, domestic, and international. ‘‘I wanted to further educate and foster our Thai national staff to be competent managers while at the same time better employ our Japanese employees,’’ he says of the first area.
On the domestic front, Shirasaki points out that Mitsui has since cleaned up bad investments from the past but needs to invest more in Thailand, especially with the upcoming Japan- Thailand EPA.
Mitsui’s Thai operations have grown in profile also. ‘‘We are not only responsible for Thailand but for its neighboring countries. Reflecting this, as of April 2005, Mitsui Thailand is the company’s regional headquarters,’’ he also says.
‘In the future, I’m sure Thailand will face a shortage of workers. Without the aid of neighboring countries, Thailand will not develop. Once these other countries develop, Thailand’s development will be all the more stronger and quicker’
Locally, Mitsui works with government initiatives, particularly with a $425 million program to develop infrastructure, in whichthe company sees opportunities in the electricity and transportation sectors, among others.
Outside the country, a Mitsui subsidiary recently discovered four oil and one natural gas wells in Cambodia. It has teamed up with Chevron to drill these wells.
Shirasaki, also the president of the Japan Chamber of Commerce (JCC), sees great potential in Thailand. But he realizes that Thailand, with its continuously declining birthrate, needs to work closely with more populous neighbors to become a leading manufacturing hub.
‘‘In the future, I’m sure Thailand will face a shortage of workers. Without the aid of neighboring countries, Thailand will not develop. Once these other countries develop, Thailand’s development will be all the more stronger and quicker.’’
www.mitsui.co.jp |