The cabinet met on Tuesday, March 5, 2013. Some of the decisions are as follows:
The Cabinet approved Draft Ministerial Regulation on Regulating of Places or Stations of Custom Airports, approved transportation routes, Border Crossing Points and Custom Houses (No. ...) B.E. ..., following the suggestion from Ministry of Finance and ordered the Office of the Council of State to examine the draft and to proceed further.
1. Department of Civil Aviation requested for support in upgrading Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport into a Custom Airport as part of the government’s logistic system development policy. This policy aims at facilitation of aerial and land transportation connectivity The proposal is also based on Nakhon Si Thammarat province’s four year development plan (2010-2013), preparation for ASEAN’s economic expansion in 2015 and the Indonesia-Malaysia-Thailand Growth Triangle (IMT-GT), which enhances the connectivity between Thailand’s South, the country members of IMT-GT (Indonesia, Malaysia and Thailand) and Asian region.
2. After consideration, Ministry of Finance agreed that Nakhon Si Thammarat Airport should be turned into the Custom Airport to accommodate landing and taking off of the loaded aircrafts and/or the passengers from Suvarnabhumi Airport, Don Muang Airport or other airports.
Following the suggestion from the Secretariat of the Cabinet, the Cabinet agreed with the draft Royal Decree to prorogue the legislative ordinary session of the National Assembly B.E. 2556 (effective 20th April 2013 onward), which is to submit to His Majesty the King.
The Cabinet agreed and approved on the following points suggested by Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
1. Agreed with the draft declaration of the 5th ACMECS and the draft action plan for ACMECS (2013-2015), and approved the Prime Minister’s or an appointed person’s signing of the aforementioned documents.
2. Should the necessity arises to amend the aforementioned documents in the unessential parts that will not result in the country’s loss of benefit, Ministry of Foreign Affair may proceed without further request for the Cabinet’s consideration.
Gist The draft declaration of the 5th ACMECS is the leader’s expression of intent to promote peace, stability, sustainable development and preparation for ACMECS action plan 2013-2015. There are 8 fields of cooperation, including trade and investment facilitation, agriculture, industry and energy, transportation connectivity, tourism, human resource development, public health and social security and environment. Furthermore, the declaration of 5th ACMECS also supports development partner countries’ participation in ACMECS’s projects.
The Cabinet acknowledged and agreed with the following points proposed by Ministry of Culture:
1. Acknowledged Thailand’s readiness to comply with missions of the Agreement on Cultural Cooperation between ASEAN and the Russian Federation.
2. Assigned Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the Secretary-General to ASEAN in written words in pursuant to No. 22 of the first section of the Agreement.
Gist The Agreement aims to promote cultural relations among member countries of ASEAN and the Russian Federation through promotion of cooperation on cultural development and exchanges, including music, drama, archive, library, museum, cultural heritages, art of dancing, visual art, movies, patents, folk handicraft, decorative art, animal circus and other forms of art that are within rules and policies of each country.
The Cabinet agreed and approved the following proposals from Ministry of Science and Technology.
1. Agreed with the draft agreement on scientific and academic cooperation between the government of Thailand and the government of the United States of America and approved the signing of the aforementioned draft agreement. Should the necessity arises to amend the draft agreement before the signing in the unessential parts, Ministry of Science and Technology must discuss with the Department Of Treaties and Legal Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs and may proceed without further request for the Cabinet’s consideration.
2. Approved Minister of Science and Technology’s or an appointed person’s signing of the aforementioned draft agreement and assigned Ministry of Foreign Affairs to arrange the Full Powers for the persons who sign.
The Cabinet agreed and approved the following proposals made by Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives:
1. Agreed with the draft Implementation Agreement of ASEAN-German Project on ASEAN Biocontrol (ABC) for Sustainable Agrifood Systems
2. Approved the Secretary-General of ASEAN’s or an appointed person’s signing of the Implementation Agreement.
3. Assigned Ministry of Foreign Affairs to inform the ASEAN Secretariat, through the channel of Thailand's Permanent Representative to ASEAN in Jakarta, of Thai Government’s approval of Implementation Agreement. The Secretary-General of ASEAN is to sign the aforementioned Implementation Agreement.
The Cabinet approved following points proposed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
1. Approved the arrangement and the signing of draft MOU on the formation of bilateral discussion between Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Thailand and Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
2. Approved the Foreign Affairs Minister’s or an appointed person’s signing of aforementioned MOU. Should the necessity arises to amend the wording of mentioned draft MOU in the unessential parts that will not result in the country’s loss of benefit, Ministry of Foreign Affair may proceed without further request for the Cabinet’s consideration.
--Cabinet Meeting (Yingluck Shinawatra) March 5, 2013--