Japan to gain by helping region upgrade

25/12/2009
Nareerat Wiriyapong
Bangkok Post

Japan is offering Thailand and other Southeast Asian nations financial and technical assistance to develop logistics infrastructure, aiming to help Japanese companies operating in Asean to lower their logistics costs by half within five years.

The financial aid would be provided in terms of soft loans for Asean countries to build infrastructure such as roads, bridges and tunnels to develop intra-region links, said Techa Boonyachai, who chairs a capacity-building committee for drafting the national Logistics and Supply Chain Policy.

Most of funds would be located to Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam, while Thailand would receive a smaller portion of the supports he said.

The financial and technical offers are aimed in part at enhancing the speed of Japanese firms in completing business transactions. About 3,000 Japanese companies operating in Thailand would be the beneficiaries of this strategy, said Mr Techa, who is also vice-chairman of the Thai National Shippers Council (TNSC).

Under Japan's comprehensive logistics policy adopted by the cabinet in July 2009, the country has outlined measures to develop an efficient logistics system for the period of 2009 to 2013, in which green logistics is a core element.

The Yukio Hatoyama governments' pledge to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 25% in the next 10 years from 1990 levels is a very challenging target, Mr Techa said.

According to the Transport Ministry, exact amounts of financial aid have not yet been finalised. Details will be updated when Japanese and Thai transport officials meet again next year.

Mr Techa said the technical assistance from Japan to Thailand for green logistics would include eco-friendly driving, and models for inter-city and urban transport. Some developed countries, for example, have started using cleaner vehicles such as electric vans for short-distance transport in big cities to lower emissions.