After three years without business missions, the Port of Barcelona undertakes the first post-coronavirus business mission, with Thailand as the chosen destination. This initiative, which allows establishing new contacts, attracting investments in emerging markets, and internationalizing local companies, has been carried out every year since the late 90s and, before the arrival of covid, there was only one stop in 2006 and 2007, followed by a double mission in 2008. The crisis caused by the coronavirus forced the postponement of the in-person nature of these trips, replaced by online missions in Colombia and Korea.
The business mission starts this Saturday and will last until Friday, October 28. It will take place in the capital of Thailand, Bangkok, including a visit to the port of Laem Chabang, located in the eastern part of the country and which has become its main deep-water port. Similar to Barcelona, Laem Chabang is a highly diversified port, with container, ro-ro, general cargo, multipurpose, and cruise terminals. In 2021, it was among the world's largest ports in container traffic, specifically in position 21 of the ranking, totaling 8.4 million TEU.
The delegation is made up of 40 participants. The deputy general director of the Port of Barcelona, Santiago Garcia-Milà, and the vice president of the board of directors, Javier Vidal, will be in charge of leading the mission to Thailand. The great absence will be that of the president of the port authority, Damià Calvet, who is preparing the handover at the head of the institution after Junts' departure from the Government, according to sources from the Port of Barcelona. Representing the Generalitat, the deputy general director of Transport Planning, Josep Maria Fortuny; and the director of the Office of Foreign Action of Commerce and Investments of Catalonia in Singapore, Jordi Maluquer, will attend.
The business mission program includes the inaugural conference, with Garcia-Mila and the general director of the Port Authority of Thailand, Kriengkrai Chaisiriwongsuk. In it, new business opportunities between Thailand and Catalonia will be discussed, and the maritime and logistics offer of the Port of Barcelona will be presented, emphasizing its strategic position as an entry and distribution point for the Iberian Peninsula and Europe, being the only port in Spain with a direct railway connection to the rest of the continent.
A technical seminar on customs and another on innovation and smart ports have also been scheduled, as well as different institutional meetings and bilateral meetings between Catalan and Thai businessmen.
One of the ten most attractive emerging countries for foreign investment
The Port of Barcelona has chosen Thailand for its desire to strengthen commercial relations with Southeast Asia, as well as for the country's economic dynamism and its geostrategic position, which allows access to other markets in the region. "It responds to the existing potential to establish commercial alliances and partnerships with its ports," Calvet stated in the official presentation of the mission.
According to Calvet, Thailand is one of the ten most attractive emerging countries for foreign investment and one of the world's economies most dependent on exports, which account for 66% of its GDP. With a large market, the automotive sector, renewable energies, and transport are its main economic strengths. In this regard, the port has identified food, agribusiness, medical equipment, automotive, tourism and services, energy, and transport infrastructures as sectors with greater export capacity or that may need more imports.
Traffic between the Port of Barcelona and Thailand stood at 256,000 tons last year, a figure that had increased by 9.3% compared to 2019, and 22,558 TEU, up 16%. Currently, the bulk of exchanges focuses on chemical products and machinery. Likewise, it is the first port in Spain in commercial exchanges with Thailand by value of goods. In 2021, commercial exchanges between the Asian country and the Catalan infrastructure totaled almost 500 million euros, achieving a market share of 42% in the country's port system.