Thai PM leaves for UN disaster conference in Japan

BANGKOK, March 13 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-ocha is visiting Japan from March 13-14 to attend the 3rd UN World Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction. Accompanied by his entourage, including Interior Minister General Anupong Paochinda and Public Health Minister Dr. Rajata Rajatanavin, Gen. Prayut left Bangkok around noon on Friday to attend the five-day UN conference in Sendai City, set from March 14-18, during which the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA) at the 2nd World Conference on Disasters will be ratified. Government Spokesman Dr. Yongyuth Mayalarp told journalists that the significance of HFA is to seek cooperation from every concerned sector and people on helping reduce risks of disasters. During his two-day stay in Japan, the spokesman stated, the Thai prime minister is scheduled to join the opening session of the five-day UN forum and to deliver a speech to inform participants of Thailand’s experiences in coping with two major natural disasters previously, including a devastating tsunami in the South in late 2004, through installing an advance warning system, and a massive flooding in late 2011, and the country's adoption and implementation of the Self-Sufficiency Economy Principle, initiated by His Majesty King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Besides, the prime minister plans to brief the participants on Thailand's national reform process toward a new general election, expected by early next year. According to the spokesman, Gen. Prayut is also scheduled to hold talks with his Japanese counterpart Shinzo Abe and UN secretary-general Ban Ki-moon on the sidelines of the UN conference. Meanwhile, Deputy Permanent Secretary for Interior Maitree Inthusut told reporters that the Thai interior minister is scheduled to deliver a speech on Thailand's post-disasters rehabilitation and repair for better development at the UN conference on March 15, when he is also scheduled to address the opening of a public discussion on sufficiency-economy measures and sustainable disaster risk reduction, held on the sidelines of the UN conference. Maitree noted that the ongoing five-day conference is a UN largest stage, in which leaders of over 30 countries participate, and it is a follow-up of last year's UN conference, hosted by Thailand. The senior official said Thailand plans to adopt this year's Sendai Declaration, to be endorsed by the participating world leaders, as a national guideline on disaster risk reduction and quick post-disaster rehabiliation in order to sustain Thai people's safety from calamities in the long run. (TNA)