FM holds bilateral, multilateral meetings to garner support for UN candidacy

[Lite Beer]

UN GENERAL ASSEMBLY

FM holds bilateral, multilateral meetings to garner support for UN candidacy
Supalak Ganjanakhundee
The Nation

New York - Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul wrapped his mission to the United Nations General Assembly with a series of bilateral and multilateral meetings and also hosted a reception to ask for support for the Thai candidacy for seats on UN bodies.

Thailand will apply for a seat as a nonpermanent member of the UN Security Council for the twoyear term of 20172018 with the aim of playing a role within the global body and uplifting the country's international profile, he said.

In the meantime, Thailand will also apply for a position on the UN Human Right Council in 20152017. The campaign has already been launched for the two bodies.

The country proposed itself, as a moderate nation, to serve as a bridge for developed and developing countries in building peace and stability as well as development, he said.

Surapong told a gathering of more than 100 ministers, senior officials and diplomats during a reception in New York that Thailand has experience in many UN tasks such as peace keeping, development issues and human rights council. "You will not be disappointed, Thailand is the right choice," he said at Monday's reception.

The country served the UN security body once in 19851986 and began a threeyear term as a member of the Human Right Council in 2010.

The foreign minister spent most of his time in New York during the General Assembly last week and this week meeting his counterparts from 13 countries and attended many multilateral forums to ask for support from them as well as trading votes with them.

Surapong said he would meet as many of his counterparts as possible bilaterally and multilaterally, since all members of the UN, small or big, have one vote. Thailand needs twothirds of the 193 member votes to secure the position in the UNSC.

While in New York, he met representatives of countries mostly from Africa, Latin America, the Balkan Peninsula and the Middle East, among them Bahrain, Uganda, Liberia, Albania, United Arab Emirate, Colombia, Macedonia and Sudan.

He joined a meeting of Landlocked Developing Countries on Monday to offer development assistance and Thailand as a linkage hub to facilitate connectivity for them.

Thailand, as a transit country, has the ability to connect landlocked nations with trade and investment, he said. Thailand, in fact, has played the role of transit country for neighbouring landlocked Laos for a long time.

-- The Nation 2013-10-01

[worgeordie]

Waste of time and money, the Government needs to concentrate on getting

the self inflicted mess they have created here ,put right, before they even

consider trying to put the rest of the World right.

regards Worgeordie

[cabanlit]

To be fair, Thai food is delicious - that's probably the real reason the guests turned up.

[bigbamboo]

Thailand as a linkage hub for landlocked developing countries?

Much easier to just say Laos.

[kimincm]

Egos V reality.

[klauskunkel]

and also hosted a reception to ask for support

they served traditional Thai dishes: mai pen rai and som namna. Many delegates went for seconds...

[noitom]

Peace keeping experience as evidenced by mass university army killings on several occasions, army killings of demonstrators more recently, 3,000 extra judicial killings in the name of a laughable drug war, and an eleven year war resulting in 12,000 injuries and 6,000 or so reported deaths in the Thai south and continuing daily bombings and terrorist acts.

Development issues experience, a preposterous dot on Thailand's resume as the world knows. Thailand is a totally corrupted culture and environment as is often reported in the Thai press. The cost of corruption has been estimated at anywhere between 40-60% of the end cost of any development project.

Human rights experience as evidenced by massive human trafficking crimes, conspiracy to commit such crimes as frequently reported in the Thai news. Child labor trafficking, unregulated and slave like condition of foreign workers, as well as implications of repeated Rohingya abuse.

Closing down of Thailand's airport for a week and stranding tourists for two weeks by a rogue political group while the Thai army, Thai police, and Thai government stood down. Thailand is not qualified to be on the UN Security Council. If they are successful at gaining the non permanent member spot, it will make the UN even more laughable than it has become in terms of actually ever doing anything to encourage security. UN Security Council members should vote no on Thailand.