The cabinet meeting on Tuesday 29, September 2009 has come to the following decisions:
The Cabinet reviewed a request for budget approval for the Airpot Link project proposed by the Ministry of Transport and Communication and passed the resolution in accordance with the advice of the Bureau of Budget as follows:
1. Approved loan to the State Railway of Thailand in the amount equal to an actual expense incurred under the construction agreement with a guarantee from the Ministry of Finance. In addition, the Government will be responsible for all expenses incurred from the loan and the interest, in accordance with such Cabinet resolution.
2. Approved loan to the State Railwat of Thailand in the amount of 98 million Baht to be used in the construction of the elevated path linking the Phyathai Skytrain station and Petchaburi subway station as proposed by the Ministry of Transportation in accordance with the Cabinet resolution as of 10 March 2009.
The Cabinet approved the making of donation for the International Agricultural Fund for the Agricultural Development in the amount of 300,000 US dollars, to be allocated from budget of the year 2010.
The gists are as follows:
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives reported that
1. International Fund for Agricultural Development is the specialized agency of the United Nations established as financial institution for agricultures under the resolution of the World Food Assembly with a goal to provide an assistance to the member countries in developing agricultures and eliminating poverty and hunger.
2. At the 32th Governing Council meeting of the Fund on 18-19 February 2009 in Rome, Italy, the meeting agreed on the goal to raise 1,200 million US dollars or 67 per cent more than the 7th fundraising which aimed at 720 million US dollars. This is to help the more vulneralble countries to develop their agricultural production capacity, to prevent and solve the problem of natural resources destruction as a result of the global climate change, and to increase the level of investment in the agricultural and the rural development. Thus the Fund was asking for more cooperation from the member countries to increase their donation. In the previous 7 fundraising events, Thailand donated 100,00 -150,000 US dollars which is quite a small amount comparing with the donation from other countries. Thailand will benefit from being a member of the Fund under the project in the amount of 1,500 million Baht. As a result, Thailand should increase its donation amount to 300,000 US dollars.
3. If Thailand donates money this time, the Fund would provide more technical assistance for Thailand. The Fund has a belief in the capacity of Thai personnels in sharing knowledge with neigboring countries and thus hold a training course to train the personels of Ministry of Agricultural and Cooperatives to be lecturers on the issue of following up and making an assessment for ASEAN countries. This will help promote Thai personnesls to have more opportunities to express their knowledge in the international forum, to gain experience and to have more roles in the international forum, which is another way to promote Thais to work for the international organization.
The Cabinet approved the Ministry of Energy’s proposals as follows:
1. The draft of the Natural Gas Purchasing Agreement in block B-17, C-19 and B-17-01 of JDA between the MTJA and PC JDA Limited and PTTEP International Limited as the Seller and the PTT Plc. as the Buyer.
2. The MTJA will sign the amenment of the Natural Gas Purchasing Agreement once the draft has been approved by the Office of the Attorney General, and the MTJA.
The Cabinet approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ proposed drafted speech for the President of the Japan-Mekong Ministerial Meeting and also the drafted joint public ammouncement for the Foreign Ministry Meeting under the Emerald Triangle cooperative framework and approved the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to jointly approve both documents
Ministry of Foreign Affairs reported that the drafted speech for the President of the meeting entitled “Mekong river countires and Japan: partnership for development” emphasized three main issues which are partnership, development and the regional and international issues of concern. The main focus is to encourage Japan to take part in the development in this region as a partner for development which will help support the acheivement of ASEAN mission as a whole, particularly in developing basic infrastructure for the development of human resources, environmental preservation and reduction of porverty level.
The main issues of the joint public announcement of 2nd Foreign Ministry Meeting under the Emerald Triangle cooperative framework are to ensure the determination of the member countries in increasing cooperation for development in the triangle areas by increasing cooperation to cover the development of basic infrastructure and trade promotion including partnership for development.
Both drafts are not deemed as the agreement under Article 190 of the Thai Constitution.
--Cabinet Meeting (Abhisit Vejjajiva) September 29, 2009--