Thailand English-language News for January 16

In Thailand English-language News for January 16, 2018, Newsline presenter Surapan Laotharanarit tells us about:

00:49 | At its most recent meeting the committee in charge of policies on the development and promotion of national security resolved to appoint new subcommittees to review and improve regulations of the Prime Minister’s office to develop and promote the national strategy, and to work on a draft strategy for the development of areas to strengthen national security.

02:11 | Deputy prime minister General Chatchai Sarikulya has chaired a meeting to kick-start the subcommittee on integrating development policies for the southern border region.

03:04 | The National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) held a meeting on Monday (January 15) to discuss ways to help ease the problems of many people. The council discussed the significance of the operations of all peace-keeping commands stationed across the country to resolve problems affecting local people, in particular farmers.

It said members of the public should be fully informed of all government projects, and that all peace keeping command centres must continue working with local disaster prevention and mitigation officers to continue distributing winter clothing to those in need.

04:19 | The National Anti-Corruption Commission (NACC) has held a seminar titled “Strong – A Sufficient Mind That Prevents Corruption”, which aims to promote intolerance to corruption in local communities. Despite inroads in recent years Thailand still losses up to 15 per cent of its economy to corruption.

05:42 | Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will preside over National Teacher’s Day today at the Ministry of Education (MoE) today. Meanwhile deputy education minister Dr Udom Kachintorn, said yesterday that a good teacher must be able to inspire their students.

07:48 | The Ministry of Social Development and Human Security (MSDHS) is collaborating with the public and private sector to develop a programme focusing on the use of innovation and technology to raise the quality of life for the elderly.

08:38 | Commerce Minister Sontirat Sontijirawong said yesterday that the ministry is committed to work with other agencies to push up prices of agricultural products to raise living standards for farmers. In addition to agricultural prices rising he said that the price for animal feed corn has tripled over last year, while jasmine rice remains high at Bt15,000-Bt16,000 (about US$590-$629) per ton. The ministry will focus on quality over quantity this year in a bid to keep prices firm.

10:11 | The Department of Business Development (DBD) has unveiled new accounting software designed to encourage good governance by small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in preparation for the so-called 4.0 economy. The software will be able to be downloaded from the departments website, but could not be located when searched for by AEC News Today.

11:16 | Industry Minister Dr Uttama Savanayana said yesterday that he was confident that bidding for five major projects in the Eastern Economic Corridor (EEC) will be completed in 2018. Additionally, he said his ministry will propose the expansion of the EEC in 18 areas totaling about 4,234 hectares (about 10,462 acres) capable of accommodating investment projects worth Bt1.2 trillion (US$37 billion).

13:38 | Director-general of the Department of Land Transport (DTL), Sanit Promwong, said yesterday that his department is preparing to launch two new bus routes in Bangkok as part of a project aimed at improving public transportation quality and connectivity.

14:37 | Secretary-general of the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Rapee Sucharitakul, told attendees at the ‘SEC Conference 2018 : Capital Market for All’ conference yesterday that the digital capital market is an attractive investment channel for mobilising funds and answered the needs of many investors. Moreover, to ensure good governance and practices a set of regulations will be issued to govern the use of digital currencies within the market during the first quarter of 2018, he said.

17:04| Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha has met with the outgoing Ambassador of Mozambique to Thailand, Maria Gustava where the cooperation between the two countries in areas such as energy, tourism, basic infrastructure development, agriculture and fisheries was discussed.

• and more.

Newsline is a daily Thailand English-language news and current affairs programme produced by the National News Bureau of Thailand (NNBT) under the Thailand Government Public Relations Department (PRD) for *NBT World, the NNBTs 24/7 English language television service delivering Thailand government news and information to the Thai, Asean, and wider Asian communities. AEC News Today publishes Thailand English-language News M-F.