(IntraFish) Thailand's fisheries sector is on track to become more open to investment from Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
This new market liberalization will come with the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), a common market between consenting ASEAN members that will take effect in 2015, reports the Bangkok Post. Expected effects are the free flow of goods, services, investment capital and skilled labor.
In Thailand’s fisheries sector, investments would be limited to those that utilize high technologies and have a minimal impact on local communities will be considered, Fisheries Department Director-General Wimol Jantrarotai told the newspaper.
"The farming of lobsters and sea cage aquaculture, for instance, are categories that we would offer" to foreign investors, Wimol said during a seminar held to prepare officials in the department for the establishment of AEC.
Participating countries will include Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Lao, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Vietnam and Thailand.
Fisheries investment could be initiated as a joint venture between Thai and foreign partners. The foreign entity would then be able to take full ownership later, Wimol said.