Speech by Mr. Tse Ping, Vice Chairmanof C.P. Group, Chairman of Chia Tai Pharmaceutical Group, at the 9th IRMCL

Vice Chairman Zheng Wantong, distinguished guests, business leaders, dear friends,

Good afternoon. I’m very glad to attend the 9th International Roundtable of Multinational Corporations’ leaders and to be present on this forum about bringing in and going out for development. We have seen some setbacks in regional cooperation in today’s world and therefore I think it is highly, timely and necessary for us to discuss the Belt & Road Initiative of China, and to achieve new development. For multinational companies, this Roundtable focuses on this theme and I think this has shown the vision of the host, so I wish to share with you my views of this topic that is on the experience on the development of Chia Taiof CP group.

First, what role the Belt and Road Initiative played for regional cooperation. Given a slowing down of the world economic recovery between 1997 and 1998, there were the finish of processing East Asia, and many East Asian economies has suffered a lot. The CP group which was developing at that time also met new challenges, well these financial crisis made eastern countries realize the connective side of economic globalization and after the crisis people are more aware of the fact that we need to make good use of regional cooperation so as to counter the negative impact of globalization, however after the financial crisis in 2008, many countries are looking for trade protectionist in measures, instead of closer regional cooperation. In the foreseeable future, it is possible that the regional cooperation may stall or even slide back, given many difficulties in regional cooperation. China has proposed the Belt and Road Initiative, which has become the new plan to counter the negative impact of globalization.

Second, how could multinational companies participate in the development and cooperation of Belt and Road. The Belt and Road initiative is the good international cooperation, however it needs to pertain to two principles in order to truly promote development. First, we need to combine the principles of bringing in and going global, for China Belt and Road was a further step from bringing in to bringing new to going global after the initiation of reform and opening-up policy in China by comrade Deng Xiaoping. Multinational companies are the main players on this platform and based on their experience with China, they can make good contributions of the Belt and Road project. The CP group as one of the first multinational companies to come to China after the beginning of reform and opening-up, has been growing together with China and made a lot of achievements in many areas. Today, the strategic transformation for Chinese companies going global has brought new development opportunities to multinational companies that have long contact with China. Second we need to pay proper attention to benefit international cooperation. Belt and Road will be achieved only to a specific project, we need to see some model or demonstration projects before we can attract more companies and businesses to involve. Thailand is the center of Asian and it is also a crucial hub for China maritime silk road in Southeast Asia. It is also the first stop from China to Southeast Asia along the maritime Silk Road. It has its unique conditions and disadvantages. Starting from 2015 the Chairman of the CPA group has organized some joint plants and development projects together with the Thai government to develop its western economic regions, so that Thailand’s eastern economic special zone will become a successful model for China’s maritime Silk Road. For China’s neighboring countries, they will support Belt and Road as long as these initiatives will be economically beneficial, more importantly whether these economic benefits can sustain.

Thirdly, how can the companies from Asian countries better use the strategic opportunities offered by the Belton road, Asian countries have a population of 560 million, so the modernization of Asian countries means for markets the size of Japan, Chinese economy is facing overcapacity while many countries in Asian has large population which means big market for the Belton road development, the CP group is cooperating with major Chinese companies. To discuss how to form a signage between China’s high technologies with the advanced technologies of other countries, and to discuss and integrate infrastructure investment plan covering roads, road transportation, maritime transportation, and aviation, we are also discussing the development of regional financial centers of five immerging industries and for new cities and the same time the development of the eastern economic special zone of Thailand also focuses on better connectivity between Thailand and its neighbors in order to attract world-class companies and human resources. We have many preferential policies here, for example a ten year tax free period, for companies as well as a personal income tax which is less than 15% and a possibility of a Thailand nationality after a five years of work, we are also trying to get more preferential policies in other sectors.

For example, we need to invest for 10 years in order to develop a new medicine. We try to shorten the period to five or three years while ensuring its high quality. So in this process we are discussing the leading industries of other countries so as to apply for new preferential policies from the Thai government. Regional cooperation is an ideal model for the development for multinational companies. The Belt and Road has offered broad platform for countries along the road. the CP Group has many years of cooperation with China as well as southeast Asian countries, today CP Group has become an active promoter of Belt and Road initiative and responding to the call of the Chinese government, we do believe that what we do will bring benefit to peoples of China and Thailand, and bring shared benefits to all countries along the Road. Thank you.