The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 22, September 2009 has come to the following decision:
The Cabinet approved the State Railway of Thailand’s (SRT) long-term loan of 4,210 million baht for their operation. The Ministry of Finance will guarantee the loan as well as consider its process, conditions, and appropriate details, as suggested by the Minister of Transportation. The SRT will have to comply with the Commission of the National Economic and Social Development’s advice on the financial management in order to increase profits and control expenditure. In addition, the SRT will have to come up with a plan to allocate investments for the development and the process of long-term operation.
The Cabinet’s 2 approvals, as proposed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, are as follows:
1.) Authorized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to reach an agreement according to the Host Country Agreement between the Thai government and the secretariat of the UNFCCC to co-host the meeting.
2.) Authorized the Minister of Foreign Affairs or Acting Minister of Foreign Affairs to sign the Host Country Agreement between the Thai government and the secretariat of the UNFCCC.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has considered drafting the Host Country Agreement between the Thai government and the secretariat of the UNFCCC in order to have the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment present to the Cabinet for its approval. This is the preparation for the Bangkok Climate Change Talks 2009, which will be held between 28 September — 9 October 2009 at the United Nations Conference Centre, United Nations, Bangkok. Related issues are consisted of:
1.) Providing privilege and protection to the attending members of the conference and give tax-free for imported materials, which Thailand already has the Protection Act for the Operation of the United Nations and Bureau of Expertise in Thailand 1961 and the Customs Tariff Decree 1987 (Section 4, article 10) as implementing legislation to support the legitimacy.
2.) Assistance in facilitating visa exemptions for attending members, which Thailand can operate under 2002 Ministerial Regulations specifying procedures and conditions on examinations, exemptions and changes of visa type in Article 13, line 4. Visa exemption will be given to holders of passports or passport replacement documents to temporarily allow them in the kingdom to attend the conference held by the Thai Government.
The objective is to enable Thailand to be able to host the 7th AWG-LCA Conference and 9th AWG-KP Conference (Bangkok Climate Change Talks 2009) correctly and appropriately according to Section 190 of the 2007 Constitution of the Kingdom of Thailand and the international regulations for conference organization by the United Nations.
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) September 22, 2009--