The cabinet met on Tuesday, March 12, 2013. Some of the decisions are as follows:
The Cabinet approved the resolutions (on the prevention of policy corruption, 3rd measure: transparency reinforcement measure on the Council of Ministers’ administration of state affairs) made by the 5th Cabinet Subcommittee (social affairs), chaired by Deputy Prime Minister Phongthep Thepkanjana, in its 2nd meeting of 2013 on 21st February. The Cabinet Subcommittee’s resolutions are as follows:
1. Decision to hold a joint meeting between the Cabinet, concerned political appointees, and committees of an organization under the Constitution which is authorized to inspect political appointees’ exercise of state power shall be under the Cabinet’s discretion.
2. Concerned offices and authorities are responsible for the clarification of their concerned matters on issues of social interest to the public. Should necessity arises, a special mechanism may be set up on a case-by-case basis.
3. Governmental agencies must operate in accordance with the Official Information Act B.E. 2540 and follow the Prime Minister Office’s Regulations on Public Consultation B.E. 2548.
4. Agreed with the suggestion made by Office of the Public Sector Development Commission in solving the problem regarding revelation of governmental agencies’ official information.
The Cabinet agreed with the Ministry of Commerce on the following points:
1. Agreed that the Department of Trade Negotiations, Ministry of Commerce be the responsible office for National Trade Repository and ASEAN Trade Repository (NTR/ATR)
2. Other concerned governmental agencies are to provide the Department of Trade Negotiations with information related to trade measures and regulations, which will be compiled in Thailand’s National Trade Repository (NTR).
Gist
The Ministry of Commerce considered that Thailand should immediately implement NTR to be in line with the 23rd AFTA Council Meeting’s resolution on the implementation of ATR which will be effective in 2015.
The Cabinet agreed and approved the following points made by Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
1. Agreed in principle with the draft action plan between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Belgium.
2. Approved for a Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Foreign Affairs to sign the joint action plan.
3. Should the necessity arises to amend the draft joint action plan 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
1) Draft joint action plan aims to provide a framework on the promotion of mutual relations and cooperation between Thailand and Belgium on the agreed issues during the year 2013-2020 both in the bilateral, regional and international levels. The draft is in English for the signing purpose. The joint action plan is composed of 3 areas of cooperation: 1) reinforcement of close relations and mutual understanding between the governments and concerned offices of the two countries, 2) reinforcement of regional and international cooperation, and 3) development of 3 aspects of bilateral cooperation (a) law enforcement and consular services, (b) economics, trade and investment, and (c) national defense and military.
The Cabinet agreed and approved following suggestions proposed by Ministry of Foreign Affairs:
1. Agreed with the draft MOU on promotion of contract farming cooperation under Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya-Mekhong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS) between the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of Lao People's Democratic Republic.
2. Approved for Minister of Foreign Affairs or an appointed person to sign the aforementioned MOU.
3. Should the necessity arises to amend the wording of aforementioned draft MOU in the unessential parts that will not result in the country’s loss of benefit, the Ministry of Foreign Affair may proceed without further request for the Cabinet’s consideration.
The operation under this MOU must be executed according to the principles approved by the Cabinet on 5th March 2013 [title: Plan on contract farming with the neighboring countries under ACMECS for 2013]. Ministry of Foreign Affairs and concerned offices are to accept Ministry of Industry’s opinion on public relations in order to proceed further.
--Cabinet Meeting (Yingluck Shinawatra) March 12, 2013--