Thai PM expresses optimism on his visit to Britain

Thai Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva, who is currently on a three-day official visit to Britain, said Thailand was ready to welcome more British investors as the kingdom’s political life has returned to normal and the government had put its utmost effort into stimulating the economy.

Mr. Abhisit met leading business figures in London Friday and briefed them on his government’s attempts to resolve Thailand’s political problems through a process of reform, as well as its approaches to revive the Thai economy, much impacted by global financial crisis.

The prime minister said most British businessmen he met expressed optimism regarding Thai politics, seeing the kingdom moving toward improvement, and a number of them said they could expand their investment in Thailand.

As the current chair of ASEAN, Mr. Abhisit said he will join the G20 summit in London next month, and that he hopes it will help the world weather the global economic slump, both the G-20 and the poorer countries.

He later presided at a promotional “Thailand Tourism Meeting” organised by Tourism Authority of Thailand. Mr. Abhisit said Thailand and other ASEAN countries will promote a programme called “Asia’s 10 Perfect Paradises.”

The new intervention scheme in rice starts from March 16

The commerce Minister of Thailand revealed that the country will buy rice from farmers at 11,800 baht ($328) per tonne and will keep the grain in stocks under a new intervention scheme which will start on March 16 and will run until July. However, this new intervention price is just a slight reduction from the 12,000 baht per tonne set under a scheme that ended in February

“The Rice Committee agreed that the intervention price should not be pegged at a very high level as global prices are not that high,” Commerce Minister Porntiva Nakasia told reporters.

The new intervention price equates to an export price of around $580-$620 per tonne, exporters said. The government aimed to buy 2.5 million tonnes under the scheme. After previous intervention schemes, the government was believed to be holding around 4 million tonnes of milled rice.

ASEAN summit venue changed once more, now to Pattaya

The summit of Association of Southeast Asian Nations leaders plus China, South Korea, Japan, Australia, New Zealand and India was originally due to take place in Bangkok in December, but was postponed after anti-Government protesters besieged the capital’s airports. Next the southern tourist isle of Phuket was named to host the conference on April 10-12. Now, Thailand has again switched the venue of the long-delayed meeting saying it would now be held in the beach resort of Pattaya.

Thai Foreign Ministry spokesman Tharit Charungvat told that it would likely be held at the town’s plush Royal Cliff Beach Hotel.

“The problem in Phuket was that many hotels were booked by tourists and therefore the available rooms were scattered around. We are trying to use only one hotel, for security reasons,” he said.

Pattaya, less than 150 kilometres (93 miles) south of Bangkok, is one of Thailand’s most popular seaside resorts but has only just begun to cultivate a more family-friendly image after years as a magnet for sex tourists.

ATM Machines to be revamped in Thailand

A Malaysian was arrested earlier this week for allegedly running a crime ring that stole more than 3 million baht (US$83,000) by attaching skimming devices to ATM machines in the province of Chumphon, 240 miles (380 kilometers) south of the capital, Bangkok.

The man confessed to police that his gang had altered ATMs by attaching fake keypads, tiny cameras and card readers placed over the machine’s card slot to record a bank card’s magnetic strip and PIN number.

According to the police reports, there have been ATM scams with thefts of about 50 million baht ($1.4 million) in the past five months from provinces outside the capital, including popular beach destinations like Krabi and Trang in southern Thailand. With increasing number of thefts in bank account information by criminal gangs, more than 30,000 automated teller machines in Thailand will be revamped as a preventive measure.

Phol Thanachote, chairman of the Automated Teller Machines’ Business Community, which operates ATM for banks in Thailand, said that special stickers will be affixed to the revamped machines to show they are safe for use. However, there was no clarification on how the machines were being altered to make them less theft-prone. Phol also said that the community was struggling to keep pace with the new technology used by criminals to copy bank account information from ATM cards.

Malaysian King and Queen to visit Thailand

The Yang di-Pertuan Agong, Tuanku Mizan Zainal Abidin, and the Raja Permaisuri Agong, Tuanku Nur Zahirah, flew off to Thailand today to begin a state visit to the kingdom at the invitation of King Bhumibol Adulyadej. Works Minister Datuk Mohd Zin Mohamed accompanied the royal couple as the minister-in-attendance.

Their Majesties were accorded a salute by the Ceremonial Unit of the First Battalion of the Royal Malay Regiment as they arrived at the KL International Airport here. The “Negaraku” national anthem was played and a 21-gun salute was fired.

Their Majesties will visit Thailand for three days until March 12 and then visit Vietnam until March 15. Upon arrival in Bangkok, the royal couple will be received by Crown Prince Maha Vajiralongkorn and Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn.

Tuanku Mizan will then be presented with the Key to the City of Bangkok by the Governor of Bangkok Metropolitan Administration Sukhumbhand Paribatra. Their Majesties will have an audience with the King and Queen of Thailand at the Grand Palace, preceded by the exchange of Royal Decorations. In the evening, the King and Queen of Thailand will then host a state banquet in honour of Tuanku Mizan and Tuanku Nur Zahirah.

Their Majesties’ state visits to Thailand and Vietnam are expected to further strengthen bilateral relations between Malaysia and the two countries. It is also a demonstration of the special importance and value that Malaysia attaches to its relations with Thailand.

Explore the island of Koh Lanta in Thailand

Koh Lanta consists of 52 islands including the largest, Koh Lanta Yai. It’s located approximately 70 kilometres from Krabi town. It is yet a comparatively unexplored island and offers complete peace and quiet away from the bustling tourist areas. Its unique scenic beauty which is mountainous and rugged in some areas, especially near the southern tip, its green forested hills, gravel and sand beaches, pretty coral reefs, clear emerald water and traditional lifestyle, provide a charming retreat from modern life.

Only 20,000 people live on Lanta including a clan of Chao Ley, or Sea Gypsies. This distinct ethnic group still follows its traditional customs and culture earning their living from rubber, prawn farming and fishing. Traditional houses and friendly faces still remain.

There is reasonably good snorkeling all along the west coast of Koh Lanta where coral and reef fish can be found, usually the best spots are around the rocks at either end of each beach.

Koh Lanta Dive operators have close access to the dive sites at Koh Phi Phi, Ko Ha, Ko Rok, Hin Daeng and Hin Muang. Dive sites tend to reflect the scenery and marine life of the area with names like Shark Point, Anemone Reef and the King Cruiser Wreck, all within easy reach of dive operators based in Ko Lanta. Pinnacles Hin Deang and Hin Muang often play host to manta rays and whale sharks and are considered to be two of the best dive sites in Thailand.

If you want to explore the island, hire a car, rent a bike, or better still go with a local guide. Tours are available giving you an insight into the local area, stopping at rubber plantations, taking a short kayaking tour through the mangroves and visiting local sea gypsy villages.

Viktor Bout complains of being framed by US

The Russian businessman, Viktor Bout, who allegedly armed dictators around the world, described himself as the hapless victim enduring “extremely inhumane” conditions in a Thai prison. Viktor also accused the United States on Friday of framing him and pressuring Thailand to extradite him to face terrorism-related charges. He was arrested in March 2008 during a sting operation in Thailand in which undercover U.S. agents posed as rebels from the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia, known by its Spanish acronym, FARC.

“What about human rights? What about presumption of innocence? What about rule of law?” Bout, 41, yelled waving his hands and shouting efore he was led from a holding cell to a hearing on the extradition request.

Bout’s wife Alla handed out a statement in which her husband complained that the Thai prison was “probably worse than Guantanamo,” the U.S. military prison in Cuba, and said he was arrested “not for committing any crime but as a result of a provocation, or rather a frame-up operation by the U.S. intelligence.”

“This is like medieval times,” she said, speaking through a translator. “At first, I cried. But now I’m used to this atrocity.”

Bout, who has been dubbed the “Merchant of Death” and was the model for the arms dealer portrayed by Nicolas Cage in the 2005 movie “Lord of War,” has been linked to some of Africa’s most notorious conflicts, allegedly supplying arms to former Liberian dictator Charles Taylor and Libyan leader Moammar Gadhafi.

Thailand exempts tourist visa fees for Qatari nationals and residents

Qatari nationals and residents desirous of spending their summer vacation in Thailand will be exempted from tourist visa fees effective from 5th March until June 4, as announced by the Thai Embassy. Eligible foreigners who apply for visa on arrival at designated checkpoints will also get the exemption.

Suvat Chiparant, Thai Ambassador to Qatar, said the exemption, available only on the tourist visa, is being offered by Thai embassies and consulates worldwide. He also said that Thailand is one of the favorite destinations of tourists from Qatar, especially during the summer. Some 15,000 of them visited the country last year, marking a 20 percent increase in numbers from the previous year.

Due to an increase in the number of tourists to Thailand from Qatar, the airlines were forced to operate two flights daily, increasing to three daily flights during summer.

Apart from shopping and vacationing on world-class beaches, visitors from Qatar also go to the Thai capital Bangkok to avail of cheaper medical treatment offered by state-of-the-art clinics and hospitals and specialist physicians.

“Most of the tourists who visited Thailand for medication stayed there for more than a month, since they have no worries because facilities and commodities are cheap,” Chiparant said.

Inauguration of railway track linking Thailand and Laos

Thai Princess Maha Chakri Sirindhorn has opened a rail link over the Mekong river, linking Thailand and Laos, which makes a start for the first international link for Laos.

Two passenger trains will run the 30-minute return trip each day, serving about 500 people daily. The UN-backed Trans-Asian Railway now has nearly 74,700km of working track serving 29 countries, and estimates for completion range from 10 to 15 years.

The new railway line would greatly reduce export costs, as transport by lorry was only previously available. The ultimate aim was to “unlock” and transform a country with no direct access to the sea, Lao Railway Authority spokesman Sompong Pholsena told the Lao News Agency.

The track over the Friendship Bridge, with road links extending from Singapore to China’s port city of Shanghai took, 20 months to complete and was funded by Thailand at a cost of about 197m baht ($5.5m; £3.8m).

The new network is part of a plan conceived in the 1960s to connect Asia with a continuous railway, stretching west to Turkey and Russia, and north and east to China, Vietnam and South Korea. Decades of regional conflict and poverty have delayed the plan until recent years.

CKA plans to build a movie town in Chiang Mai

CKA Chiang Mai Company Limited is located in Thailand’s northern province of Chiang Mai and is a subsidiary of the Los Angles-based entertainment firm Creative Kingdom Inc. The company has planned to invest 8.0 billion baht (220 million U.S. dollars) to build a movie town in Chiang Mai, “Chiangmaiwood”, and hopes that it would be able to surpass Hong Kong as the Asian hub of the movie industry.

The construction of this movie town on a 12-acre site in San Kamphaeng district will take an estimated seven years and by 2014 six studios of varying sizes would be available for different scales of movie productions, as quoted by Eduardo Robles, CEO of the company.

The project would officially be announced on June 19 this year, while movie producers and directors across the globe would be invited to see the business potential.

Chiang Mai has been chosen because of its good location and traffic, and also because the production costs are about 20 percent lower than those in rival locations, while the company has also received tax incentives from Thailand’s Board of Investment.

Thailand and Mynamar keen to promote Buddhist Circuit Tourism

In the annual summit held in Thailand, the ASEAN countries resolved to develop the Buddhist Circuit/Pilgrimage Tourism for ASEAN and India. In an effort encourage all members to cooperate together in the tourism promotion and marketing within ASEAN, the Tourism Authority of Thailand (TAT) has been actively working with this project.

The Union of Myanmar is one of the pilot countries which TAT is enthusiastic to join hands in promoting the “Buddhist Circuit”. TAT recently organized an educational trip “Bangkok-Chiang Rai-Thachilek-Kengtung-Bagan-Yangon-Bangkok” during 17-21 February, 2009, headed by Mr. Suraphon Svetasreni, TAT Deputy Governor for Policy and Planning together with representatives from the Tourism Council of Thailand (TCT), Association of Thai Travel Agents (ATTA), Chiang Rai Tourism Society, as well as travel writers, a total of 22 people.

This trip provided a golden opportunity for the private sector and travel writers from Thailand to meet and share information with their counterparts. This trip was a part of the “Buddhist Circuit” route survey.

Apart from this, with the upcoming hosting of the Buddhism Pilgrimage documentary film production team from India, both countries are optimistic to welcome more cooperation from other ASEAN members which may join to fulfill the ASEAN-India Buddhist Circuit Tourism in the near future.

Lorena Ochoa wins the Honda LPGA for her 25th career title

Women’s World No. 1 Lorena Ochoa fired a six-under 66 and won the Honda LPGA Thailand on Sunday for her 25th career title, easily pulling away for a three-stroke victory in her first event of the season. She finished the event at 14-under-par 274.

Last year, Ochoa had opened with a victory in Singapore in the HSBC Women’s Champions and went on to win five of her first six events.

The top-ranked Mexican star, three strokes behind playing partner Paula Creamer at the start of the round, shot a 6-under 66 to finish at 14-under 274 on the Siam Country Club’s Plantation Course. South Korea’s Hee Young Park shot a 65 and moved into the second place at minus-11. The third-ranked Creamer had a 73, leaving her four strokes back at 10 under.

Thailand and Indonesia object each other over ‘protective’ measures

Last Friday, Thailand’s commerce minister Porntiva Nagasi raised objections about a new Indonesian regulation during the 14th ASEAN Summit. The regulation restricts imports in five key categories of food and beverages, textiles and garments, footwear, electronics and children’s toys to five ports only which are Belawan Port in Medan, North Sumatra, Tanjung Priok Port in Jakarta, Tanjung Emas Port in Semarang, Central Java, Tanjung Perak Port in Surabaya, East Java, and in Makassar, South Sulawesi, as well as all international airports.

“We have raised the issue of restrictions on imports to Indonesia’s trade minister, Mari Elka Pangestu, at our bilateral meeting just now, with concerns that this could affect our bilateral trade.Minister Mari has told me that she would look into this matter soon,” said Mr. Nagasai.

Mari said the regulation was imposed to crack down on illegal products adding that even Indonesia was concerned about a number of “protective” measures by the Thai government that had affected Indonesian exports to the country.

“They have got their own issues and so do we. We are in discussions to address all those problems,” she said.

Indonesia and Thailand have both agreed to boost trade and investment in the automotive, fisheries and halal food product sectors in a bid to increase trade among ASEAN members. Indonesian exports to Thailand stood at US$3.2 billion in the first 10 months of 2008 and its imports from Thailand were at $5.5 billion.