On 31 January 2012, Mr. Thani Thongphakdi, Director-General of the Department of Information and Foreign Ministry Spokesperson, gave an interview to the media on developments regarding travel advisories and alerts issued by some countries about the possible terrorist threat in Bangkok. Gist as follows:
1. Pursuant to the alert issued by the United States Embassy in Bangkok warning its nationals of a possible terrorist threat, at present the U.S. Embassy has removed the said warning from the main page of its website. On 24 January 2012, the United States has instead issued a worldwide caution on security threats and terrorist activities for various regions of the world. For East Asia, a general alert was issued without specifying any particular country including Thailand. This is considered a positive development.
2. As for other countries, over the past 2-3 days, three countries, namely, Austria, Norway and Brazil, have also revised their travel advisories and alerts for Thailand, removing reference to the said issue. At present, there remain 14 countries which still retain their travel advisories and alerts on this matter. It should be noted, however, that these countries have not advised their nationals to avoid travelling to Bangkok or Thailand, but only provided information about the matter to their nationals.
3. In this connection, the Foreign Minister has directed the Ministry to provide the latest information on the current situation to countries which have retained their travel advisories and alerts for Thailand in order for them to consider revising their advisories and alerts. This matter has already been raised with some countries. In addition, the Foreign Minister and the Permanent Secretary for Foreign Affairs will also raise this issue with Ambassadors and/or Representatives of the European Union (E.U.) Member States in Thailand during their upcoming meeting on 2 February 2012.
For further information, please contact the Press Division, Department of Information, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, Tel.02-6435170, Fax.02-6435169, E-mail: div0704@mfa.go.th