Government to launch Sustainable Thai-ism Program

BANGKOK, February 2 (TNA) - The government will launch the Sustainable Thai-ism Program later this month to drive forward national development in all sectors, with a focus on strengthening the country's grassroots in the long term. Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda, in his capacity as secretary and a member of the steering committee of the program, told journalists on February 1 that Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha and his deputies will brief all ministries of the Thai Niyom Yangyeun or the Sustainable Thai-ism Program on February 9. General Anupong said the ministries will then brief the program to their response teams in the provincial, the district and the sub-district levels later in the same day, prior to the official implementation of the program nationwide on February 21. According to the interior minister, personnel of all 7,563 local response teams have been assigned to run the program by conducting four field trips to visit locals in over 80,000 villages nationwide. The minister noted that the Sustainable Thai-ism Program will prioritize the development of the Thai farm sector, followed by the tourism sector, in order to strengthen the country's grassroots on the sustainable basis in all dimensions. (TNA)