The cabinet meeting on 24 March 2009 has come to the following decisions.
Approval draft Royal Decree on the Establishment of National Innovation Agency or NIA (Public Organization) as proposed by Ministry of Science and Technology. The NIA’s Headquarter will be located in Bangkok. The Chairman of Committee will be appointed by the cabinet with three committee member by position and not more than six prominent member.
Approval in the principle of drat National Land Committee Act B.C.... as proposed by Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment and submit to the Office of Council of State for further scrutinizing. The National Committee will chair by the Prime Minister or Deputy Prime Minister assigned by the Prime Minister with Minister of Natural Resources and Environment as a Vice Chairman and 16 committee members from public and private organizations. The National Committee is not only to formulate policy and plan of action on land management but also to settle dispute on land resource between the public organizations and agencies concerned. According to the Ministry, the National Committee will be the center on land management to help set all works of agencies concerned to be in the same direction and manage land resource effectively.
Approval and acknowledgement the solutions of 2nd National Committee on Energy Policy Meeting on 9 March 2009 as reported by Ministry of Energy. The cabinet agreed on Power Development Plan 2007 between 2008-2021 (PDP2007) which is mainly concerned the national power reserve at the appropriate level in respond to the economic downturns. The PTT (Pcl.), meanwhile is assigned to outline the supply plan on natural gas in line with the National Power Development Plan for the National Committee on Energy Policy’s consideration. The cabinet also acknowledged on the various energy matters as follows;
- Proposal on the Amendment of the Promotion of Electricity Generated by Renewable Energy Approach
- Policy on the Money Sending and Paying of Electricity Development Fund under the Energy Affairs of 2007 Bill
- Approach on Price Subsidiary of Imported LPG
According to the Ministry, Since January 2009 the Fuel Fund has allocated not more than 500 million baht monthly to subside the imported LPG.
Approval on 1,000 million baht allocated from central budget to support the implementation under Fighting the Economic Crisis by Sufficient Economic Theory as proposed by Internal Security Operations Command. Acknowledgement the Ministry of Commerce’s Report on the Follow and Evaluate the FTA performance with five countries. The details are as follows;
1. International Trade and Traffic Incentive
-The total export and the export under FTA with 5 FTA negotiated countries in 2008 was worth 48,407.7 million USD increased by 77.2%. The Export under FTA which worth 12,652.0 million USD was accounted of 27.8 of the total export value.
-The benefit of FTA’s tax and tariff incentive is subject to each countries's trade condition. The export of automobile especially pick-up car and spare part to Australia has increased 250 % compared to those period before FTA deal. The sxport to India has also benefited from FTA’s tax and tariff’s incentive by cutting down the normal 5-10% of Indian tax and tariff.
-Total import and import under FTA in 2008 from five FTA countries has reached 61,887.6 million baht increased by 124.8 % which 3930.4 million USD under FTA was accounted 6.6 % of total export.
2. FDI from five FTA countries in Thailand in 2008 was total 109,760 million baht decreased by 36.5 % due to the world economic crisis.
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) March 24, 2009--