over human trafficking and forced labour in a meeting with
senior United States business lobbyists Saturday,
an apparent effort to shore up confidence amid weakening
economic data.
Speaking at a dinner with members of the
US-Asean Business
Council in New York, the prime minister said his military
government was committed to solving long-standing
problems including human
trafficking, forced labour and
illegal fishing.
He said the government was intensifying its
efforts to wipe
out corruption and promote transparency in the state sector.
Trade
and investment-related regulations were also being
streamlined and
standardised, he told the group, while
labour skills were being upgraded and
public infrastructure
improved to help draw investors.
Gen Prayut said these improvements would also help prepare
future governments
if they decided to bring Thailand into the
Trans-Pacific Partnership trade
pact. The prime minister has so
far refused to commit to a decision on joining
the TPP.
Gen
Prayut called on the members of USABC to convey
his government’s political will
to US importers.
Declining exports was one of the primary
reasons cited by
the Bank of Thailand last week as it lowered its
full-year
GDP growth forecast to 2.7% from 3%. The bank expects
Thai shipments
to decline 5% this year.
Thailand has also faced the threat of
economic sanctions
in the US for its poor performance in the annual Trafficking
in Persons Report, while the EU has threatened to ban
Thai seafood imports amid
evidence of poor regulation and
the widespread use of forced labour in the fisheries industry.
The prime minister attempted to present a platform
of political
stability to the business group, which represents more than
140 of
the largest US corporations, promising a general election
would take place in
2017. In the lead-up to those polls,
Gen Prayut said the military-installed
government would focus
its efforts on implementing reforms to strengthen
social,
economic and foreign affairs.
He said it was necessary for the military to
seize power in
May last year to stabilise the country and heal political
divisiveness which had stalled national administration and
spoiled the business
climate, Thai News Agency reported.
“[Installing my] government was necessary to
restore stability
after almost 10 years of [political] conflicts in the
society,”
Gen Prayut told the forum.
Gen
Prayut is in New York to attend the United Nations
General Assembly meeting,
where he is due to deliver an
address on Wednesday at 6am Thai time.
His appearance
in the US has been met with mixed reaction
from Thai citizens based there, with rival
groups staging
separate rallies overnight to both support and denounce
the coup
leader.
Gen
Prayut also spoke yesterday during an interactive dialogue
on "Ending Poverty
and Hunger" at the UN, identifying
development as one of his government's
reform priorities.
He
said a new constitution, expected to be ready in about
six months, would allow
for greater public participation and
provide equal access to social services
and justice.
He told the forum that income disparity
remained a challenge
for Thailand due to the unfair distribution of land and
natural resources.
After
delivering the speech, Gen Prayut presided over the
opening of an exhibition on
His Majesty the King’s sufficiency
economy theory.
The prime minister said poverty was a
significant factor
hampering democratic development in Thailand and made
democracy here “different” to other countries.
He
said with the middle class and the rich in control, the poor
were deprived of
opportunities and if “democracy was not
put right”, corruption would reign and
the country's core problems
would not be solved.
“We have to build a democracy that is stable
and sustainable,”
he said. “If we don’t there will be more disparity…
And it
would be impossible to tackle poverty because the gap
between the rich and the
poor will be huge.”
News,World,Bangkok Post, 27 September 2015.
In my viewpoint,income disparity remained a
challenge for
the government to solve.
I
believe if we can provide good education for all children
and Thai people to make them can stand on
their own feet
the income disparity problem will be least
and end.
And the gap between the rich and the poor
can be solve
which will lead to stability in politic,
economic and
the society.
If the country is in stability I believe we
can have true and
sustainable democracy in the country.
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