Feb. 18 (Bloomberg) -- French President Jacques Chirac urged Thailand to employ French companies in its $46 billion infrastructure program, hailing the ``expertise'' of Alstom SA, Veolia Environnement SA and Suez SA in a meeting with French and Thai executives.
"I told the prime minister that we would like to see French companies become the preferred partners of the Thai authorities," Chirac said today at a lunch attended by Thai Premier Thaksin Shinawatra in Bangkok.
Thaksin has set an April 28 deadline for technical proposals from foreign companies seeking a slice of as much as 1.8 trillion baht ($45.8 billion) earmarked for public works over five years. Southeast Asia's second-biggest economy is seeking foreign expertise to modernize and boost economic growth.
Chirac is in Thailand for a two-day visit designed to improve trade ties. Thailand is France's fourth-largest export market in Asia, consuming goods worth 1.44 billion euros ($1.72 billion) in 2005, an increase of 110 percent in a year that was aided by the sale of Airbus SAS planes.
The world's biggest maker of commercial aircraft won an order Dec. 30, 2005, from Bangkok Airways Co. Ltd. for six A350 airliners, valued at about $1 billion at list prices, as the Thai carrier adds routes to Europe.
France aims to increase by 400 the number of companies present in Thailand, bringing the total to over 700, Chirac said.
Transport Sector
Chirac told executives that "in the transport sector, France has unparalleled experience both with our high-speed train and urban transport." Alstom, whose head, Patrick Kron, was present at the lunch, said in a dossier prepared for Chirac's visit that it plans to make its "strong competences'' known in bidding for the planned Bangkok metro.
The "expertise" of Veolia, the world's largest water company, and Suez, present in Thailand through Cogeneration Pcl and Glow Energy Pcl, "can be very valuable to Thailand," Chirac said.
As the Thai economy grows so do its energy needs, and Chirac said "our largest companies are prepared to pursue this goal of diversification with you," referring to Thailand's aims of using biofuels and nuclear energy.
More than 1,000 business people from Thailand and major economies, including about 100 from France, attended a briefing held in Bangkok on Jan. 26 by Thaksin and other Thai officials on its five-year public works plan. Construction on some projects may start in the third quarter of this year, Finance Minister Thanong Bidaya told reporters then.
Competition
French companies that would bid for the projects will have to face competitors including Siemens AG of Germany, Europe's biggest engineering company. Lothar Herrmann, president of the company's Thai unit, said on Jan. 26 that it expects to bid to build as much as 550 billion baht worth of mass transit projects planned by the Thai government.
Thailand's spending on mass transit, roads and irrigation systems is expected to boost economic growth to 5.48 percent a year from 2005 to 2009, the finance ministry said in June. The economy probably expanded 4.5 percent in 2005, from 6.2 percent in 2004, amid rising fuel costs, the central bank said.
