The Cabinet met on Tuesday, February 13, 2018, at the Government House. Some of the resolutions are as follows:
The Cabinet acknowledged and approved the following:
1. Approved in principle the Draft Act on archaeological sites, artifacts, antiques and national museums (No….) B.E…., as proposed by Office of the Permanent Secretary under the Prime Minister's Office.
2. Ministry of Culture is to take into consideration the opinions of Office of the Public Sector Development Commission, and Bangkok Metropolitan Administration, and proceed accordingly.
3. Acknowledged a plan to develop secondary legislations, timeframe and framework of the above Act, as proposed by Office of the Permanent Secretary under the Prime Minister's Office.
1. Local administrative organizations are authorized to manage, maintain, and register local and community-level archaeological sites and artifacts
2. Department of Fine Arts may reach an agreement with local administration organizations for the latter to preserve, protect, maintain, and restore registered archaeological sites.
3. Local Administrative Organizations is authorized to protect, preserve and restore their archaeological sites, as well as to collect entrance fees.
The Cabinet acknowledged the new rates for the minimum wage in accordance with skill standards (No.7), for the announcement in the Royal Gazette, as proposed by Ministry of Labor. Gist is as follows:
1. The National Wage Committee, comprising representatives from employers, employees, and government sector, is authorized to set the rates for minimum wage in accordance with skill standards to ensure appropriate and fair revenues of labors who have passed national labor skill standard test, and to promote labor skill development to accommodate national competitiveness and capacity enhancement on par with the international standard.
2. The National Wage Committee appointed 4 sub-committees to deliberate wage rates for 4 groups of industry (16 professions), that is,
1) steel industry,
2) plastic industry,
3) furniture industry, and
4) shoes industry. The new wage rates will go into effect 90 days after being announced in the Royal Gazette.
The Cabinet agreed with the proposals made by Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. Agreed to comply with United Nations Security Council (UNSC)'s 2385/2017 resolutions on the Federation of Somali and Eritrea sanctions
2. Assigned concerned government agencies, namely, Ministry of Defense, Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Transport, Ministry of Interior, Ministry of Commerce, Office of the National Security Council, National Intelligence Agency, Royal Thai Police, Anti-Money Laundering Office, and Bank of Thailand, to update information on the Federation of Somali and Eritrea sanctions, to be in accordance with United Nations’ website (https://www.un.org/sc/suborg/en/sanctions/751) under “Sanctions List Materials”
Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that UNSC voted to extend an arms embargo imposed on Eritrea and Somalia, which has ended on November 14, 2017, to end on November 15, 2018 due to ongoing instability in both countries.
The Cabinet approved proposals made by Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. Agreed with the Grant Contract between ASEAN and European Union (EU) for ASEAN Secretariat capacity enhancement under the ASEAN Regional Integration Support from the EU (ARISE Plus). Should there be any amendment, if not effecting gist of the document or against the benefits of Thailand, Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to proceed without further approval from the Cabinet and later inform the Cabinet accordingly.
2. The ASEAN Secretary-General or his representative is authorized as signatory, and Ministry of Foreign Affairs is to inform ASEAN Secretariat of the cabinet resolution through Thailand’s Permanent Representative to ASEAN.
Gist of the matter
The ARISE Plus aims to promote regional economic integration in ASEAN in accordance with ASEAN Community 2025, and increase capacity of ASEAN Secretariat. The program consists of 5 components:
(1) ASEAN Single Market,
(2) ASEAN Intellectual Property Rights,
(3) ASEAN Secretariat Capacity Building,
(4) ASEAN Integration Monitoring, and
(5) ASEAN Air Transport. The European Union allocated 41 million euros for the project which will run from 2016-2022. ARISE Plus is a continuation of the ARISE project that is already expired in June 2017.
The Cabinet approved proposals made by Ministry of Foreign Affairs as requested by Italy as follows:
1. Upgrade status of Phuket's Italian Honorary Consul, Mr. Francesco Pensato, to an Honorary Consul General.
2. Upgrade status of Honorary Consulate of Italy to Phuket to the Honorary Consulate General. The consulate jurisdiction covers Phuket, Krabi, Trang, Nakhon Si Thammarat, Pattani, Phangnga, Phatthalung, Narathiwat, Yala, Songkhla, Satun and Surat Thani.
--Cabinet Meeting (Prayut Chan-o-cha) February 13, 2018--