The cabinet met on Tuesday, March 19, 2013. Some of the decisions are as follows:
The Cabinet acknowledged the draft ministerial regulation on organizing the Department of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs B.E. … which was already scrutinized by the Office of the Council of State, and ordered the Cabinet Secretariat Office to submit the aforementioned draft to the Minister of Foreign Affairs for singing and for announcing in the Royal Thai Government Gazette.
Gist of the draft ministerial regulation
1. Repeal the ministerial regulation on organizing the department of ASEAN Affairs, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, B.E. 2545
2. Define authority and duties of Department of ASEAN Affairs.
3. Organize the Department of ASEAN Affairs as follows: 3.1 Secretariat to the Department; 3.2 Division of ASEAN Strategy and Cooperation; 3.3 Division of Politics and Security; 3.4 Division of Economics; 3.5 Division of Socio-Cultural Affairs 3.6 Division of Relations with Dialogue Partners and International Organizations
The Cabinet agreed and acknowledged the following points proposed by the Ministry of Finance:
1. Agreed with the draft Act on authorization of Ministry of Finance to seek loans for national transportation infrastructure development, B.E. ...
2. Acknowledged the documents for the consideration of the draft Act on Authorization of Ministry of Finance to seek loans for national transportation infrastructure development, B.E. … which were prepared by the Ministry of Finance and related offices.
3. Agreed with the criteria regarding the annual budget allocation for the settlement of debts resulted from this Act, to be complete within 50 years. The allocation of budget will start in the eleventh year after the enactment. Minimum amount for the settlement of debts is to be concluded as to prepare for the debt payment in ladder method.
4. Acknowledged the outline for the project operation under this Act in the 5 following stages: 1) Preparation for projects 2) approval of projects and loans 3) procurement 4) allocation and disbursement of loan, and 5) reassessment and report.
The Cabinet approved CAT’s construction of the APG (Asia Pacific Gateway) submarine cable network together with its associate members with the total investment of 2,055.74 million baht. Following the suggestion of the Office of Attorney General, the operation is to be undertaken through the arbitration for conflict conciliation among associate members and between members and the employees under the construction and maintenance agreement and employment contract for the construction of APG (Asia Pacific Gateway) Submarine Cable Network.
The Cabinet agreed and approved following suggestions from the Ministry of Industry:
1. Agreed with draft notes of Secretary-General of ASEAN for the exchange with that of Germany’s and of draft agreement on the quality infrastructure reinforcement projects in ASEAN
2. Approved for Secretary-General of ASEAN to sign the aforementioned drafts
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 aforementioned documents and the Secretary-General of ASEAN’s signing of them.
Gist
Draft notes of ASEAN accepting the project operation in exchange with notes from German Government
1) Draft notes of ASEAN is an exchange of notes with the notes from German Government signed by the German Ambassador to ASEAN on 23rd October, 2012 with regard to the acceptance of project operation
2) Gist of the draft notes involves ASEAN’s approval of agreements and conditions mentioned in notes from Germany, for example, the approval of Physikalisch Technische Bundestanstalt (PTB) as the project operator for Germany and ASEAN Consultative Committee for Standards and Quality (ACCSQ) as the project operation coordinator for ASEAN
3) Draft notes of ASEAN in exchange with notes from the German Government are considered as agreements on project operation under mission for cooperation on techniques between the two parties. The agreements will be effective upon ASEAN’s signing on the notes.
--Cabinet Meeting (Yingluck Shinawatra) March 19, 2013--