The cabinet meeting on Tuesday18, August 2009 has come to the following decisions:
The cabinet granted the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to establish the Hajj Consulate of Thailand in Saudi Arabia to facilitate and assist Thai pilgrims on solving problems throughout the Hajj pilgrimage, allowing them to correctly perform the ritual of Hajj in accordance with the religious principle and not losing their benefits determined by Saudi Arabia, similar to the Hajj Consulates of Thailand set up in many countries where many Thai pilgrims went to perform the Hajj. Referred to the Ministry of Interior’s proposal, the Ministry of Foreign Affair, the Ministry of Culture, and the Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) would jointly work out on setting up of the Hajj affairs section in the Southern Border Provinces afterwards.
The cabinet approved the draft dialogue and cooperation agreement between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Africa as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, including authorized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to sign the agreement.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that
1. Thailand and South Africa discussed on the draft agreement in order to be a mechanism enhancing the bilateral relationship and cooperation development between Thailand and South Africa. Previously, in 2001, South Africa proposed to provide the agreement, later, Thailand and South Africa exchanged correspondence concerning the draft agreements respectively.
2. The objectives of the agreement was to enhance the bilateral relationship and cooperation which the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of South Africa agreed to facilitate the exchange official visits, dialogue process between the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of both countries and exchanging views on mutually beneficial matters in every areas, especially in areas of politics, economy, trade, investment, finance, industry, education, society, health, sports, science, academic, and technology .
3. South Africa is one of the most significant countries in Africa continent, being a strategic partner of Thailand in terms of economy, politics, and society. Moreover, South Africa was the number one trading partner with Thailand among other countries in Africa.
The cabinet approved and endorsed the two proposals of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as following;
1. Approved the draft Memorandum of Understanding on Partnership Programme for Joint Cooperation between Thailand and Argentina to sign afterwards.
2. Authorized the director of Thailand International Development Cooperation Agency (TICA) or the Thai ambassador in Buenos Aires to sign the Memorandum of Understanding on the behalf of the Thai government.
3. The purpose of the Draft Memorandum of Understanding is to expand cooperation between Thailand and Argentina to other developing countries, in order to enhance efficiency in using human resources, technology, and budget of both countries. The cooperation activities consisted of arranging seminars, involved by experts of Thailand and Argentina, in the third country, sending experts of one country to enroll in projects of another country in the third country, and other formats of cooperation based on mutual agreement. The committee consisted of representatives from concerning organizations of both countries, would be provide the annual plan. TICA and the Department of International Cooperation of Argentina would be responsible for proceeding.
4. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs expressed an opinion that the provision of the Draft Memorandum of Understanding was expansion of joint cooperation between Thailand and Argentina to other developing countries in an aspect of cost-sharing, which not only saves Thailand’s resources more than the bilateral cooperation, but also create an opportunity to extend cooperation of Thailand to other countries in Latin America region , with which Thailand had never cooperated, in order to build relationship which could lead to cooperation in other aspects. Moreover, Thailand could benefit of exchanges of knowledge, experiences, and expertise with Argentina in the areas that Thailand lacked expertise, for example areas of agricultural technology, of public health, and of substitute energy (NGV and Nuclear).
The cabinet approved the draft minutes of meeting, negotiating framework, and framework of meeting to maintaining stability, a total of 6 issues, as proposed by the Ministry of Defence, and would refer to the Parliament for the further approval.
1. The draft minutes of meeting of the 17th Thai-Lao General Border Committee Meeting.
2. The framework of the Thai-Lao General Joint Border Committee and concerning mechanism
3. The draft negotiation framework to maintain stability and peace in the area of Thai-Cambodian border in the framework of Thai-Cambodian General Border Committee and other mechanism under this framework
4. The negotiation framework to maintain stability and peace in the area of Thai-Myanmar border in the framework of Thai-Myanmar Regional Border Committee and other mechanism under this framework.
5. The framework of meeting to maintain stability and peace in the area of Thai-Malaysian border in the framework of Thai-Malaysian General Border Committee and other mechanism under this framework.
6. The framework of conference to maintain stability and peace, and enhance the relationship in the framework of Thai-Indonesian High Level Border Committee and other mechanism under this framework
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) August 18, 2009--