The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 13, November 2007 has come to the following decisions:
*The cabinet approved Monday 24, December 2007 public holiday as proposed by the Ministry of Labour. The agencies concerned have been designated to process the work in the related areas to support and accommodate the voters to travel to vote, to increase voter turnout to exercise their vote as follows:
1. Designate the Ministry of Labour to ask for cooperation from companies, business owners, and employers to allow staff to participate and exercise their right on the election date which will not count as a staff holiday or leave of absence day.
2. Designate the Ministry of Finance to inform the Bank of Thailand to consider setting Monday, December 24, 2007 as a Bank holiday.
3. Designate the Ministry of Transport and the Royal Thai Police to accommodate their employees and staff to safely travel to vote and back.
* The cabinet approved four proposals proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives as follows:
1. Approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the People’s Republic of China and the Association of the South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on strengthening sanitary and phytosanitation cooperation.
2. Designated the Secretary of ASEAN to sign this agreement. If, however there is any minor change of the text that does not effect the main point of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Secretary of ASEAN or his representative can use their consideration to report to the cabinet later on.
3. Designate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue full power document to the Secretary of ASEAN or his representative to sign the Memorandum as mentioned above.
4. At a later date the protocol will be established and any other agreement in technical terms under this memorandum of understanding assigned to the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperative to utilize the consideration This memorandum of understanding aims to strengthen cooperation in the WTO (World Trade Organization) which will bring convenient agriculture goods trading and food based on equality beneficial and respectful to each other between ASEAN members and the People’s Republic of China. The National focal point that will act as a central cooperation for China is the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the People’s Republic of China and the national focal point for ASEAN is the Secretariat Office of ASEAN. The national focal point for Thailand is the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standard (FCFS), Ministry of Agriculture by setting up cooperation in various areas including warning systems, information sharing such as rules and regulations, standards, procedures and technology related to investigations, internment, information related to bugs and insect disease, exchange of experts, meetings, seminars and field trips in investigation and internment, and joint research etc.
*The cabinet agreed and approved the draft protocol as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. Approved the additional draft protocol Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan and assigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to improve the text in the additional draft protocol as mentioned above which will not change the main point of the agreement.
2. Designated the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the designated representative to sign the additional draft protocol as mentioned above as a representative of the government of the Kingdom of Thailand.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports as follows:
1. The government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan have signed the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Bhutan on July 30, 2004 as the cabinet approved in subject 2, the framework agreement which cooperates and helps in academic and various areas between the two countries in the same agreement in order to help and support each other for the most beneficial to the two countries.
2. Later on, the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan proposed to have cooperation with the Department of Highways of Thailand in the development of infrastructure which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed the Ministry of Transport to scrutinize by draft the additional protocol of the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Bhutan, for the cooperation in infrastructure development, in which will represent new cooperation between the two countries, as accordingly to the report of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport that will not be an issue.
3. The main point of the draft and the additional protocol is that the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan agreed to add cooperation in infrastructure development to the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the two countries. The objective is to promote the exchange of academic knowledge and technology in planning, design, construction and road maintenance between the related departments of the two countries.
4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has scrutinized the additional draft protocol in the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the two countries and if not relevant to the agreement would require the approval of parliament, according to the constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, article 190, section 2.
*The cabinet approved the ratification of the agreement between governments on the Asian train connection route as proposed by the Ministry of Transport. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is designated to proceed with establishment of ratification of the agreement between the governments as mentioned above and assigned the Ministry of Transport as the approval of the Budget Bureau and the Office of the National Economics and Social Development Board to scrutinize and proceed, including acceptance, and observation of the Minister of Finance related to the Asian train connection route so that there is no connection to the link between the northern part of Thailand and the Southern part of China from Chiang Rai province to Yunan province of China to be scrutinized later on.
*The cabinet approved the reports of the 5th Ministerial meeting of Mekong-Ganga Cooperation — MGC as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and assigned the related departments to act accordingly to the minutes of the meeting, as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports
1.1. To be responsible to establish tourist information such as establishment of MGC Hotel Rates in three star hotels in the CD and Directories.
1.2 To promote the Pilgrimage Tourism/Religious Circuit
1.3 To organize the meeting for the tourism working group in January, 2008.
2. The Ministry of Culture
2.1 To provide and support equipment such as loom demonstration material including experts to support establishment of the Museum of Traditional Asian Textiles in Siem Riep, Cambodia
2.2 To cooperate with India to restore and repair important cultural and historical places in member countries.
3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought a proposal to link cooperation in transportation of Mekong - Ganga framework with other cooperation such as Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), the Greater Mekong Sub-Region(GMS), and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) including Malaysia, and Singapore to discuss with member countries and report to the Ministry of Transport to acknowledge and scrutinize later on.
Also, to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take recommendation from the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Culture for consideration as well.
--Cabinet Meeting (Surayud Chulanont) November 13, 2007--
*The cabinet approved Monday 24, December 2007 public holiday as proposed by the Ministry of Labour. The agencies concerned have been designated to process the work in the related areas to support and accommodate the voters to travel to vote, to increase voter turnout to exercise their vote as follows:
1. Designate the Ministry of Labour to ask for cooperation from companies, business owners, and employers to allow staff to participate and exercise their right on the election date which will not count as a staff holiday or leave of absence day.
2. Designate the Ministry of Finance to inform the Bank of Thailand to consider setting Monday, December 24, 2007 as a Bank holiday.
3. Designate the Ministry of Transport and the Royal Thai Police to accommodate their employees and staff to safely travel to vote and back.
* The cabinet approved four proposals proposed by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives as follows:
1. Approved the Memorandum of Understanding between the People’s Republic of China and the Association of the South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) on strengthening sanitary and phytosanitation cooperation.
2. Designated the Secretary of ASEAN to sign this agreement. If, however there is any minor change of the text that does not effect the main point of the Memorandum of Understanding, the Secretary of ASEAN or his representative can use their consideration to report to the cabinet later on.
3. Designate the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to issue full power document to the Secretary of ASEAN or his representative to sign the Memorandum as mentioned above.
4. At a later date the protocol will be established and any other agreement in technical terms under this memorandum of understanding assigned to the Minister of Agriculture and Cooperative to utilize the consideration This memorandum of understanding aims to strengthen cooperation in the WTO (World Trade Organization) which will bring convenient agriculture goods trading and food based on equality beneficial and respectful to each other between ASEAN members and the People’s Republic of China. The National focal point that will act as a central cooperation for China is the General Administration of Quality Supervision, Inspection and Quarantine (AQSIQ) of the People’s Republic of China and the national focal point for ASEAN is the Secretariat Office of ASEAN. The national focal point for Thailand is the National Bureau of Agricultural Commodity and Food Standard (FCFS), Ministry of Agriculture by setting up cooperation in various areas including warning systems, information sharing such as rules and regulations, standards, procedures and technology related to investigations, internment, information related to bugs and insect disease, exchange of experts, meetings, seminars and field trips in investigation and internment, and joint research etc.
*The cabinet agreed and approved the draft protocol as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. Approved the additional draft protocol Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan and assigned the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to improve the text in the additional draft protocol as mentioned above which will not change the main point of the agreement.
2. Designated the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the designated representative to sign the additional draft protocol as mentioned above as a representative of the government of the Kingdom of Thailand.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reports as follows:
1. The government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan have signed the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Bhutan on July 30, 2004 as the cabinet approved in subject 2, the framework agreement which cooperates and helps in academic and various areas between the two countries in the same agreement in order to help and support each other for the most beneficial to the two countries.
2. Later on, the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan proposed to have cooperation with the Department of Highways of Thailand in the development of infrastructure which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has informed the Ministry of Transport to scrutinize by draft the additional protocol of the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Bhutan, for the cooperation in infrastructure development, in which will represent new cooperation between the two countries, as accordingly to the report of the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Transport that will not be an issue.
3. The main point of the draft and the additional protocol is that the government of the Kingdom of Thailand and the government of the Kingdom of Bhutan agreed to add cooperation in infrastructure development to the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the two countries. The objective is to promote the exchange of academic knowledge and technology in planning, design, construction and road maintenance between the related departments of the two countries.
4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has scrutinized the additional draft protocol in the Comprehensive Framework Agreement for Cooperation between the two countries and if not relevant to the agreement would require the approval of parliament, according to the constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand, article 190, section 2.
*The cabinet approved the ratification of the agreement between governments on the Asian train connection route as proposed by the Ministry of Transport. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs is designated to proceed with establishment of ratification of the agreement between the governments as mentioned above and assigned the Ministry of Transport as the approval of the Budget Bureau and the Office of the National Economics and Social Development Board to scrutinize and proceed, including acceptance, and observation of the Minister of Finance related to the Asian train connection route so that there is no connection to the link between the northern part of Thailand and the Southern part of China from Chiang Rai province to Yunan province of China to be scrutinized later on.
*The cabinet approved the reports of the 5th Ministerial meeting of Mekong-Ganga Cooperation — MGC as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and assigned the related departments to act accordingly to the minutes of the meeting, as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as follows:
1. The Ministry of Tourism and Sports
1.1. To be responsible to establish tourist information such as establishment of MGC Hotel Rates in three star hotels in the CD and Directories.
1.2 To promote the Pilgrimage Tourism/Religious Circuit
1.3 To organize the meeting for the tourism working group in January, 2008.
2. The Ministry of Culture
2.1 To provide and support equipment such as loom demonstration material including experts to support establishment of the Museum of Traditional Asian Textiles in Siem Riep, Cambodia
2.2 To cooperate with India to restore and repair important cultural and historical places in member countries.
3. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Ministry of Transport, and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs brought a proposal to link cooperation in transportation of Mekong - Ganga framework with other cooperation such as Ayeyawady - Chao Phraya - Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), the Greater Mekong Sub-Region(GMS), and the Bay of Bengal Initiative for Multi-Sectoral Technical and Economic Cooperation (BIMSTEC) including Malaysia, and Singapore to discuss with member countries and report to the Ministry of Transport to acknowledge and scrutinize later on.
Also, to ask the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take recommendation from the Ministry of Transport and the Ministry of Culture for consideration as well.
--Cabinet Meeting (Surayud Chulanont) November 13, 2007--