Royal Thai Navy will sign submarine purchase contract within May 7

BANGKOK, May 5 (TNA) -- The Royal Thai Navy stated on May 4 that navy chief-of-staff Adm Luechai Ruddit left for Beijing to sign the contract for the purchase of Thailand’s first submarine after China Shipbuilding & Offshore International Co (CSOC) informed the navy that Chinese authorities completely prepared documents related to the contract. As the cabinet approved the submarine acquisition on April 18, navy commander-in-chief Adm Na Areenich sent Adm Luechai to sign the government-to-government contract on his behalf. The navy chief-of-staff’s visit to Beijing was set on May 4-7. When both sides read through the relevant documents, the signing with CSOC, as a representative of the Chinese government, will follow at the Diaoyutai State Guesthouse by May 7. The navy intends to import three Yuan Class S26T submarines worth altogether 36 billion baht. The first one is priced at about 13.5 billion baht. In the signing, the navy chief-of-staff was set to place the first installment of 700 million baht. (TNA)