EU expected to finally lift yellow card on Thai fishing industry

BANGKOK, May 23 (TNA) - Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan says that the European Union (EU) is expected to eventually lift its yellow card warning on the Thai fishing industry. General Prawit, who oversees national security, told journalists on Monday that EU has been aware of Thailand's attempted solutions to the Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing and admired and admitted that the IUU Fishing in the country has been improving. General Prawit said although many IUU Fishing issues in Thailand remain, including overfishing and tracking devices, EU has realised that Thailand has seriously solved the issues and extended another six months for Thailand's attempted solutions. General Prawit, who is also Defence Minister, revealed he has been informed by Thai officials who recently presented the country's solutions to EU in Brussels that EU technical officials are scheduled to visit Thailand in late June and meet him in early July. "It is believed that our serious efforts should result in EU's issuance of a green card to Thailand on IUU Fishing issues eventually and we are good for remaining at the same level now because the issues have been longstanding", the deputy premier told reporters. (TNA)