Siam Cement Group (SCG) from Thailand considers Vietnam a key market inits strategy to expand investment in the Southeast Asian region. SCG President and CEO Kan Trakulhoon said that Vietnam has alwaysbeen an important market in the group’s business strategy in the ASEANregion since the group entered the country in 1992. “We will continue our investment in this potential market, focusing oncement, building materials, paper and chemicals,” he stressed. SCG currently has 19 affiliates in Vietnam which have total assetsworth 615 million USD. The group’ posted 6.7 trillion VND (320 millionUSD) in sales revenue in the Vietnamese market in 2012, an 11 percentincrease from a year earlier. In the first half ofthis year, the figure saw a year-on-year surge of 43 percent to hit 4.9trillion VND (230 million USD). Last December, theThai group paid 5.12 trillion VND (240 million USD) for 85 percent ofPrime Group, a leading building material producer in Vietnam , astrategic step to consolidate its competitiveness in ASE AN. Kan Trakulhoon noted significant changes in Vietnam ’s investment and business environment. “ Vietnam is an emerging economy with a large and dynamicpopulation and good business environment. Remarkably, we have seen itsefforts in building an ASEAN Economic Community. In this context,Vietnam has many favourable factors for our upcoming plans,” he added. SCG is also seeking other opportunities here. Lastyear, the group and Thai Plastics and Chemicals Public Company Limited(TPC) entered into a joint venture with QPI Vietnam (a subsidiary ofQatar Petroleum International), the Vietnam National Oil and Gas Group(PetroVietnam) and Vietnam National Chemicals Group (VinaChem) to investin a petroleum project in the country. SCG and TPCown 28 and 18 percent of the project respectively. The remaining belongsto Vietnamese businesses. It is scheduled to become operational in thenext few years. Besides Vietnam , the Thai group is also eyeing other markets in the Southeast Asian region./.