Thai PM Hails Thailand Appointed As G77 Chairman for 2016

NEW YORK, Sept 27 (TNA) – Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha has expressed satisfaction after Thailand is endorsed as the G77 chairman for 2016, saying the kingdom is appointed after the country successfully reducing poverty problem. Gen. Prayut, now attending the 70th United Nations General Assembly session in New York, told journalists on Saturday that G77 member countries had discussed the poverty problem and decided to appoint Thailand as chairman of the group for 2016 based on achievement the country received in lowering poverty problem by more than 40 per cent in 2000. He said that Thailand’s success is achieved because the country has also implemented the self-sufficiency economy, a philosophy initiated by His Majesty the King, in solving the problem. Social disparity must be solved first by eradicating poverty, said Gen. Prayut, adding that solving other problems before it would be futile. Thailand was endorsed by G77 member states on Friday during the group’s ministerial meeting in New York during the UN General Assembly annual session. On Saturday, Gen. Prayut also laid a wreath in remembrance for those who died in the September 11, 2001 terrorist attacks by the Islamic terrorist group al-Qaeda on the United States. He also placed a white flower for a Thai woman who died during the attacks at the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Gen. Prayut and his accompanying senior officers are scheduled to stay in the US until October 1. (TNA)