The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 29, November 2011 has come to the following decision:
The cabinet approved the draft notification of the Ministry of Commerce on maize import under the ASEAN Free Trade Agreement as proposed by the Ministry of Commerce. The draft would then be processed by the Bills and Subordinate Legislation Audit Committee.
The cabinet acknowledged the progress of the financial support to local logistics businesses project as proposed by the Managing Committee of the Financial Support to Local Logistics Businesses project under the Ministry of Commerce as follows:
1. The outcome of the loan amount 3 billion baht from January 19, 2010 to June 30, 2011: there were 1,483 loan applicants with total loan amount of 4,534.88 million baht ; 1,032 applicants with 2,998.32 million baht of loan amount were approved by the banks; 1,008 applicants disbursed the loan with the total amount of 2,913.72 million baht.
2. The outcome of the loan amount of 2 billion baht from June 6- September 30, 2011 as approved by the cabinet on April 12, 2011 to provide financial support to local logistics, franchises and direct sales businesses.
2.1 Financial support to local logistics businesses: there were 723 loan applicants with total loan amount of 2,236.30 million baht; 511 applicants with 1,499.34 million baht of loan amount were approved by the banks; 470 applicants disbursed the loan with the total loan amount of 1,375.75 million baht.
2.2 Financial support to local franchises and direct sales businesses: there were 101 loan applicants with total loan amount of 79.81 million baht; 46 applicants with 30.91 million baht of loan amount were approved by the banks; 36 applicants disbursed the loan with the total loan amount of 23.63 million baht.
2.3 Due to the constraint on loan conditions, only limited number of loan applicants for financial support to local franchises and direct sales businesses was approved.
The cabinet approved the proposal by the Ministry of Defense to amend the 15th infantry division establishment project from the budget of 16,970,778,084 baht during fiscal year 2005-2008 to the budget of 18,032,241,800 baht during the fiscal year 2005- 2013. The detail of the plan is as follows: Human Resources budget 160,000,000 baht, Education and Research budget 80,000,000 baht, Reinforcement and Maintenance budget 220,332,800 baht, Management budget 4,000,000 baht, Construction and Infrastructure budget 840,000,000 baht.
The cabinet approved the tariff measure to help flood affected industries and the draft notification of the Ministry of Finance on the tariff exemption in flood affected areas as proposed by the Ministry of Finance. The Ministry of Finance will pass the measure to the Panel on General Flood Relief chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Yongyuth Wichaidit, the Economic Relief Committee chaired by the Deputy Prime Ministry Kittirat Na Ranong and the Rehabilitation Committee on Quality of Life chaired by the Deputy Prime Minister Pol Gen Kowit Wattana to implement.
The cabinet approved the help offered by the United States to the flood affected areas as proposed by the Ministry of Defense
The Ministry of Defense reported the meeting with the representatives from the United States,Brig. Gen. Craig C. Crenshaw, commander, the III Marine Expeditionary Force Flood Recovery Command Element and Chief of JUSMAGTHAI Colonel Edward A. Swanda, Jr, at the Ministry of Defense on November 26, 2011 to consider flood relief measures offered by the United States.
To show the strong and bonded relationship between the two countries, the United States has decided to support the Thai government in rehabilitating the flood-damaged areas. The initial area will be the badly hit Don Muang area. The US operation will be under the operation responsible by the Ministry of Defense. The Flood Recovery Element consists of 30 officers, 1 helicopter, 6 water pumps and other rescue equipments. The operation period is November 29 to December 4, 2011 or when the project is finished.
--Cabinet Meeting (Yingluck Shinawatra) November 29, 2011--