The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 14, July 2009 has come to the following decisions:
The Cabinet agreed in principal to approve the construction of the Klong Yai multipurpose seaport in Trat province. The project is valued at 1,295.67 billion Baht, and the construction will begin in 2010 and finish in 2012, as according to the Ministry of Transport's proposal.
The Ministry of Transport reported that, with the use of modified medium-sized fishing boats as cargo ships, the current maritime transport between Klong Yai district, Trat province, and neighbouring countries, Cambodia and the south of Vietnam, is valued at 5 billion Bath per annum. However, as the current seaport is not up to international standard and lacks logistics infrastructure as well as custom and immigration checkpoints, the Ministry proposed for the improvement of the Eastern seaboard maritime transport. They will also work to alleviate the troubles local people are facing as well as to distribute income to the region.
The Cabinet has considered the Ministry of Finance's proposal to extend utility subsidies program, and the followings are the Cabinets resolutions.
1. Accepting the Finance Ministry's proposal, the Cabinet agreed with the extension of the measures reducing the expenses of the people, the programme of which will run until 31/12/09. The government will financially support the agencies responsible for the expenses, namely, the Metropolitan Waterworks Authority (MEA), the Provincial Waterworks Authority (PWA), the Metropolitan Electricity Authority (MEA), the Provincial Electricity Authority (PEA), Bangkok Mass Transit Authority (BMTA), and the State Railway of Thailand (SRT). The total expense of which the six state enterprises are responsible will stand at 11.117 billion Baht.
2. The Cabinet agreed to expand the limit of the "6 Measures for 6 Months: Thailand's Way Out of Crisis" compensation budget to the six state enterprises with PWA receiving 235.471 million Baht more, MEA receiving 57.953 million Baht more, BMTA receiving 97.740 million Baht more, and SRT receiving 64.370 million Baht more. The increases totaled 452.534 million Baht. Also, the government will be responsible for the PEA's expense arisen from penalty for purchasing the electricity from Electricity Generating Authority of Thailand (EGAT) after the programme's expiration date, valued at 90.49 million Baht.
The Cabinet agreed with the Ministry of Public Health's proposal to reserve for Type A (H1N1) flu vaccines and approved the 850 million Baht budget, of which 600 million Baht will be allocated for purchasing 2 million doses of vaccine from France's Sanofi Pasteur Ltd and the rest 250 million Baht will be used for purchasing 10 million tablets of the anti-viral drug, Oseltamivir.
Considering the proposal forwarded by the meeting of related agencies on 22/06/09, the Cabinet resolved that related agencies must strictly comply to the United Nations Security Council's resolution No.1718(2009). The Foreign Ministry was also assigned to report to the United Nations Security Council that Thailand's government agencies had discussed and decided to comply with UNSC resolution no. 1874(2009) and that Thailand will give full cooperation to the global community within the limit of Thai laws.
The Cabinet approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs' request to allow Kingdom of the Netherlands to open its Consulate in Phuket, which will provide consular protection to Dutch nationals living in the province.
The Cabinet approved both proposals put forward by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
1. According to the proposal, both the Foreign Minister or the Thai ambassador in Tokyo have the capacity to sign the treaty, but only one of them is to sign the treaty between the Kingdom of Thailand and Japan on transfer of convicted person and cooperation to enforce the court's verdict. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has the capacity and is allowed to ratify the treaty on the date that is to be decided with Japan.
2. The Cabinet granted the exchange of memorandum of understanding regarding the issues of Japanese nationals at the time of signing ceremony.
The Cabinet granted the Minister of Foreign Affairs or the Thai ambassador in Phnom Penh to sign the agreement between the Kingdom of Thailand and the Kingdom of Cambodia on transfer of convicted person and cooperation to enforce the criminal court's verdict (Prisoner Transfer Agreement) and for the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to give cooperation with Cambodia.
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) July 14, 2009--