The Cabinet met on Tuesday, April 26, 2016 at Command Building I, Government House. Some of the resolutions are as follows;
The Cabinet approved and acknowledged proposals made by Ministry of Transport as follows:
1. State Railway of Thailand is authorized to implement the dual-track rail project, route Prachuap Khiri Khan-Chumphon. Operational expenditure will be under consideration of Ministry of Finance and Bureau of Budget.
2. Acknowledged progress of the dual-track rail project, route Nakorn Prathom- Hua Hin and Hua Hin- Prachuap Khiri Khan. Ministry of Transport was assigned to expedite the implementation and submit to the cabinet for its approval.
3. State Railway of Thailand was ordered to accelerate upgrade of services, especially on sanitation, safety and punctuality, based on the cabinet’s resolution, dated October 27, 2015. Ministry of Transport is also to finalize establishment of Department of Rail Transport within this year, according to Prime Minister’s order in the Cabinet’s meeting dated February 29, 2016.
The Cabinet agreed on the proposals made by Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. Agreed in principle on the Draft Declaration for the 5th Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of Conference on Interaction and Confidence Building Measures in Asia (CICA) under the theme “Promoting Peace, Security, Stability and Sustainable Development in Asia through Dialogue among Civilizations”. Should there by any amendment, if not affecting the gist of the document or the benefits of Thailand, Ministry of Foreign Affairs is authorized to proceed without any further Cabinet’s consideration.
2. Minister of Foreign Affairs or his representative is assigned to endorse the Draft Declaration.
Gist of the matter
1. The 5th Meeting of the Ministers of Foreign Affairs of CICA is to be held during April 27-28, 2016 in Beijing, People’s Republic of China. At the meeting, the Draft Declaration under the theme “Promoting Peace, Security, Stability and Sustainable Development in Asia through Dialogue among Civilizations” will be endorsed on April 28, 2016. Further discussion will be discussed at special working group and senior officer level on April 25-26, 2016 prior the date of endorsement.
Draft Declaration reflects the cooperation of CICA’s state members to promote mutual trust in tacking problems and challenges through 5 frameworks: politic and military, economic cooperation, threats and new challenges, environment and human and terrorism, separatism, extremism, expansion of nuclear weapons and weapons of mass destruction, drugs, transnational crime, human trafficking, human and fundamental rights and sustainable development.
Draft Declaration aims to express joint political intent among members on various important issues without words or contexts that lead to international obligations and without signing. The draft, therefore, is neither a treaty according to the international law, nor a contract according to Section 23 of the Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand (Interim), B.E. 2557.
The Cabinet approved proposals made by Ministry of Information and Communication Technology as follows:
1. Approved the final revision of the agreement between the government of Thailand and International Telecommunication Union (ITU) on hosting of ITU Telecom World 2016, and agreed to apply the arbitration clause to settle dispute according to Cabinet’s resolution on July 14, 2015. Should there by any amendment, if not affecting gist of the document or against principle of the document the Cabinet has approved, Ministry of Information and Communication Technology is authorized to proceed, and later inform the Cabinet accordingly of the aforementioned amendment.
2. Minister of Information and Communication Technology and President of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission are assigned as signatories of the agreement on behalf of Thai government.
3. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to issue the Full Powers for the Minister of Information and Communication Technology and President of the National Broadcasting and Telecommunications Commission to endorse the agreement accordingly.
The Cabinet agreed to the proposals made by Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives as follows:
1. Agreed upon Thailand’s partnership of Agreement on Port State Measures to Prevent, Deter and Eliminate Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated Fishing (IUU) of Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
2. Ministry of Foreign Affairs is assigned to issue instrument of accession accordingly.
3. Department of Fisheries is assigned as contact point for the operations according to the Section 16 of the aforementioned Agreement.
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives reported that solving illegal, unreported and unregulated fishing is an urgent government policy. International agreement related to IUU fishing is an effective tool, recognized internationally, to prevent, deter and eliminate IUU fishing. Thailand needs to partner and ratify with several international organizations in order to express its intent in conserving and exploiting marine resources in a sustainable manner.
--Cabinet Meeting (Prayut Chan-o-cha) April 26, 2016 --