Asean

BANGKOK (The Nation/ ANN) - Panasonic has developed business facilities to support its growth in Asia, with Thailand as one of its strategic markets in the region. The company says it has set a mission to become one of the top three home-appliance brands in Thailand by 2020.

Takeshi Nomoto, managing director Panasonic AP Sales (Thailand) Co, said the firm’s marketing would emphasise the “Aspire to More” business initiative to position itself as a premium brand that offers both elegant minimalism design and options to fit each customer’s needs.

BANGKOK (The Nation/ ANN) - Figures revealed by the British government show a huge drop in the number of visitors to Thailand in recent years but a massive rise in arrests here, especially for drugs. The conclusion is clear that the criticism of Brits behaving badly in Thailand is an increasingly observable fact.

Meanwhile, in percentage terms, far more British people are dying or being hospitalised in Thailand than just three or four years ago.

HO CHI MINH CITY, Vietnam (Viet Nam News/ANN) - Due to skyrocketing costs of dental care in western countries, more and more overseas Vietnamese and foreign travellers get work on their teeth done while visiting Vietnam.

With a pool of highly-skilled practitioners, state-of-the-art facilities and affordable costs, HCM City is rapidly emerging as a dental care tourism destination.

MALAYSIA (The Straits Times/ANN) - Malaysian developer UEM Sunrise was tasked with growing one of five flagship zones, Iskandar Puteri, and developed key projects like EduCity and Puteri Harbour.

The arrival in the Iskandar region of giant Chinese property players has prompted many Malaysian developers to rein in their ambitions but UEM Sunrise, one of Iskandar Malaysia's biggest land owners, welcomes the challenge.

ATTAPEU (Vientiane Times/ANN) - Attapeu province plans to develop a further 18 hydropower projects by 2025 in order to reduce their electricity dependency on outside sources, the Provincial Energy and Mines Department reported recently.

Attapeu has considerable potential for the construction of both small and large hydropower plants and many companies have already signed Memorandum of Understandings for the construction of these plants across the province.

VIENTIANE (Vientiane Times/ANN) - International tourists have generated a bigger expenditure in the country over regional tourists, even though regional tourist arrivals were 92 percent higher last year.   

Viet Nam News/ANN - Việt Nam’s Auto Purchase Index (API) declined to 14.6 in the first quarter from 15.5 as consumers plan to delay purchases until 2018 when the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement eliminates tariffs on cars imported from the regional countries.

This information is part of the ASEAN Auto Purchase survey, which was announced recently by the Financial Times Confidential Research (FTCR) on www.ft.com.