Thailand's KASIKORNBANK (KBank) plans to grant 2 billion baht (63 million U.S. dollars) in loans over the next three years to the country's first Chinese-based industrial project, the bank announced on Thursday.

By entering into close cooperation with the Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone, KBank is to provide comprehensive funding and business information to Chinese operators at the estate, KBank Executive Vice President Pipit Aneaknithi told a news conference.

"Chinese investors operating in Thailand are supported financially by their parent firms with only a fraction of their needed start-up capital. Thus, they are required to seek more funding from banks in Thailand," he said.

KBank, one of the largest commercial banks in Thailand, provides consulting and financial services, credit support, and other business intelligence to help ensure Chinese SMEs' success here, he added.

Pipit also noted that Thailand's strategic location connecting China with the ASEAN has attracted more and more Chinese investors to the country. Despite a GDP growth of only 0.1 percent in 2011, Thailand's bilateral trade with China rose distinctively by 30 percent year-on-year, he said.

Meanwhile, China's investments in Thailand ranked the second among international investors, totaling 20.5 billion baht (650 million U.S. dollars); Chinese-Thai trade in the first quarter of 2012 was recorded at 14.84 billion U.S. dollars, up 12.9 percent year on year.

The Thai-Chinese Rayong Industrial Zone, a joint venture developed by Holley Group (China) and Amata Group (Thailand), is Thailand's first industrial estate for Chinese SME investors. Its general manager Xu Genluo told Xinhua that 41 Chinese enterprises have begun operation at the estate and 10 more are expected to enter it this year.