BANGKOK, June 21 (TNA) – Thailand’s Prime Minister Gen. Prayut Chan-ocha will attend a two-day meeting of the Ayeyawady-Chao Phraya- Mekong Economic Cooperation Strategy (ACMECS), starting Monday, in the Myanmar capital of Naypyidaw, said Maj. Gen. Werachon Sukondhapatipak, deputy spokesman of the Prime Minister’s Office.
Gen Prayut has attached importance to eight branches of cooperation among ACMECS members which apparently in line with his strategies in making Thailand the centre of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and strengthening countries in the region, said Maj. Gen. Werachon.
The eight branches of cooperation are providing facility to trade and investment, agriculture, industry and energy, connectivity of transportation routes, tourism, human resources development, public health, and environmental conservation.
There is already joint cooperation in those eight branches, but there might be some delays, said Maj. Gen.
Werachon. Members at this upcoming meeting will try to accelerate development in every field while there would be a signing of the sixth Naypyidaw Declaration and a draft on the operation of the sixth ACMECS.
The Thai government approved the draft on the Declaration last Tuesday.
Maj. Gen. Werachon said that the prime minister had stressed that ACMECS must be materialised as soon as possible because Thailand is now fully prepared and the country is ready to provide assistance including training to fellow members in case they are not ready.
ACMECS is a cooperation framework among the three Indochinese countries — Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam — Myanmar and Thailand. It aims to utilise member countries’ diverse strengths and to promote balanced development in the subregion
Fugitive and ousted Thai prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra initiated the establishment of this cooperation framework in April 2003. (TNA)
