Thailand English-language News for January 25

In Thailand English-language News for January 25, 2018, Newsline presenter Sandra Hanutsaha tells us about:

01:51 | Minister attached to the Office of the Prime Minister (OPM), Kobsak Pootrakool, is attending the 2018 World Economic Forum (WEF) in Davos, Switzerland until January 26.

03:14 | Thailand will submit a summary of its efforts to clean up the fishing industry to the European Union at the end of April. The report will note that between May 2015 and January 18 of this year the Royal Thai Police (RTP) recorded 4,243 cases of illegal fishing activities and human-trafficking within the industry.

Over the period more than 40,000 boats were inspected with some 9,000 impounded. More than 160 human-trafficking victims have been rescued and more than 100 suspects arrested.

04:47 | Deputy prime minister General Chatchai Sarikanlaya said yesterday that he is optimistic that the European Union won’t accept the new Human Rights Watch (HRW) report on Thailand’s fishing industry without taking into consideration information from the Thailand government.

06:18 | NACC secretary-general Worawit Sukboon yesterday said that deputy prime minister General Prawit Wongsuwan had met with investigators on three occasions to provide details of watches and jewellery he hadn’t listed in his assets and liabilities report.

Mr Sukboon noted that the probe now included 25 watches and said the committee hoped to wrap up its inquiry before the end of February.

07:52 | The Wasatiyyah Institute for Peace and Development (WIPD) of the Sheikhul Islam Office (SIO) was to hold a public lecture and dialogue titled ‘Islam and Being a Muslim in Thai Society’ in Bangkok today, aimed at creating a better understanding of the role of Muslims in Thai society and the role of moderation.

11:10 | Bank of Thailand (BOT) governor Veerathai Santiprabhob yesterday assured that the central bank will continue to regulate the baht as required. He pointed out that the majority of the baht’s recent gains was due to the softening of the US dollar. When compared with regional currencies it was still trading within an acceptable range. He also said that the proposed minimum wage increase of between Bt5 (about US$0.16) and Bt22 (about $0.70) per day was appropriate under the current circumstances and will have a minimal effect on inflation.

12:19 | Chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries (FTI), Chen Namchaisiri, has indicated that the Thai Industrial Sentiment Index (TISI) climbed from 87.0 in November 2017 to 89.1 in December spurred by the purchase of gifts, and automobiles.

Spokesperson for the FTI’s Automotive Industry Club (AIC), Surapong Paisitpattanapong, reported that a total of 157,207 cars were produced in December, a year-on-year (YoY) increase of 15.77 per cent, while domestic sales hit a four-year high of 104,302 units. Production and sales figures for the full year exceeding their targets, he said. For 2018 Thailand aims to produce two million units, 1.1 million of which will be for export with 900,000 units slated for domestic sales.

12:29 | Minister of Commerce (MoC) Sontirat Sontijirawong has told a meeting of producers and vendors of products that they should not increase prices in the event the minimum wage increase proceeds. He said research by the ministry showed that the proposed minimum wage increase would affect the cost of production by between only 0.0182-1.0225 per cent.

He added that if operators need to increase their prices following the wage adjustment they should notify the Department of Internal Trade (DIT) and consideration will be given on a case-by-case basis.

16:29 | Rubber growers and traders in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat and Nakhon Si Thammarat have expressed their satisfaction with the government’s plan to integrate rubber into different state projects. Meanwhile, the Rubber Association of Thailand (Rat) has initially bought 1,200 tons of latex from farmers in five provinces.

17:30 | The Bangkok Metropolitan Administration (BMA) recently held a conference on stopping the spread of HIV/AIDS. Taweesap Siraprapasiri, a medical specialist on Preventive Healthcare from the Department of Disease Control (DODC) told participants that there are currently 36.7 million AIDS patients in Thailand, 1.8 million of whom were added to the tally since 2016. Meanwhile one million people have so far died from the disease.

In 2018 Bangkok is expected to see 2,086 new HIV patients, bringing the total in the capital to 77,034 people infected with HIV/ Aids. Of the new patients 1,151 or more than 55 per cent are are expected to be below 25 years of age, while some 3,022 people are expected to die from the disease nationwide this year.

20:05 | Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha will today travel to India for the Asean-India Summit and to celebrate the 69th anniversary of the founding of the Republic of India.

21:33 | The Ministry of Tourism and Sports (MTS) will tomorrow wrap up the 37th Asean Tourism Forum (ATF) in Chiang Mai. Minister of Tourism and Sports, Weerasak Kowsurat said issues being discussed at the gathering include the sustainable development of Asean’s tourism sector, tourism connectivity, and the promotion of Asean culinary cultures.

23:03 | The governor of Ayutthaya Province, Sujin Chaichumsak, yesterday presided over the opening of the Liuzhou Railway Vocational Technical Ayutthaya Campus which will offer diploma courses in railway engineering technology, and railway signal auto control. The new campus, a joint venture between Ayutthaya Technological Commercial College (ATCC) and Liuzhou Railway Vocational Technical College (LRVTC) in Guangxi, China aims to promote programmes in railway engineering for Thai students.

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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.