Thai PM:Government will promote tourism, border trade

BANGKOK, October 19 (TNA) - Thai Prime Minister and Defence Minister says her government has held meetings on developing tourism along Thailand’s borders with neighbouring countries, aimed to promote tourism and cross-border trade. Speaking during her weekly TV and radio programme live broadcast in Thailand's northeastern Nong Khai province, bordering Laos, on Saturday morning, Yingluck suggested that campaigns on promoting traditional cultures of each Thai province, especially border provinces, should be launched to help stimulate local tourism. Yingluck cited Nong Khai and Nakhon Phanom provinces in the Thai Northeast, which have their annual festivals of Naga fireballs and illuminated boat procession as good examples respectively. Yingluck acknowledged that her government has also held meetings on promoting natural and health tourism, as well as improving transportation routes to boost safety for international tourists. According to the Thai premier, the conservation of local tourism sites, as well as traditional cultures should be promoted to make Thai border provinces become gateways to other member countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), with the Royal Thai Police to be a key government office in providing help to international tourists, while more surveillance cameras will be installed to ensure safety of the international visitors. The Thai prime minister announced that her government also plans to form a “National Single Window” to provide assistance to international tourists and to amend regulations concerning tourism. Regarding border trade, the Thai prime minister noted that Thailand now has 91 border outposts in 26 provinces and the government will spend money from its 2.2 trillion baht new mega infrastructure projects on further developing the border passes, and that several border outposts will be further upgraded to be “special economic zones” in the future. The Thai prime minister is scheduled to later chair a meeting on preparing for strategic development plans for Nong Khai, before traveling to Nakhon Phanom to chair a meeting on the follow-up of strategic development plans for Thailand's three upper northeastern provinces, including Nakhon Phanom, Mukdahan and Sakon Nakhon. (TNA)