ID :
364693
Thu, 04/23/2015 - 08:47
Auther :

PM hopes EU acknowledges Thailand's fishery solutions

BANGKOK, April 23 (TNA) - Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha says he believes that the European Union (EU) will give a chance to Thailand's fishery exports, as his governnent has given high priority to fishery solutions and implemented many of them. Prime Minister General Prayut told TNA in Jakarta, Indonesia's capital, on Thursday morning, while attending the Asian-African Summit 2015, that Thai fishery problems have been monitored for a long time, but he hopes that the EU should give Thailand a chance because his interim government has made much progress in solutions. The Thai premier admitted that nationality verifications of fishing crewmen take times, the quality of Thai fishery needs to be improved and the private sector has to cooperate on registering their fishing boats and helping stop human trafficking. Besides, many laws need to be amended to facilitate solutions, pledging that he will exercise power under Section 44 of the Provisional Constitution to speed up the legal amendments concerning the registration, harsh punishment against wrongdoers and the standards of fishing boats and their tracking, while also protecting coastal fishermen. The prime minister said, however, whether the problems can be solved within six months depends on cooperation from all parties, especially big private firms. The Thai premier's remarks were in response to the EU's decision on issuing a "yellow card" to Thailand on April 21, demanding that Bangkok address Illegal, Unreported and Unregulated (IUU) Fishing within six months, or face an import ban on Thai fishery products to the 28-member European trade bloc. Two Thai leaders, including the prime minister himself and Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister General Tanasak Patimapragorn, are representing Thailand to participate in the Asian African Conference (AAC) 2015 and related forums, hosted by Indonesia from April 19-24, with the Asian-African Summit alone set from April 22-23. (TNA)

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