Government does have a policy on preparing all sectors to become part of ASEAN Community. The aim of this policy is to get Thailand to be part of ASEAN Community completely within 2015 by preparing and strengthening all sectors. Moreover, government also has a policy on economic and social for preparing to become part of ASEAN Community.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has prepared the report on this as follows :
1. Aim to build ASEAN Community within 2015
1.1 ASEAN set its goal to become ASEAN Community in 2015 with the shared vision of ASEAN leaders to build ASEAN Community with high capability to compete, distinct law and regulation and people-centered. In 1998, ASEAN passed the ASEAN Charter which seeks to establish the legal and institutional frameworks.
1.2 ASEAN Community consists of 3 pillars: the ASEAN Political-Security Community (APSC) (the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as a main coordinator), the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC) (the Ministry of Commerce as a main coordinator) and the ASEAN Socio-Cultural Community (ASCC) (the Ministry of Social Development and Human Security as a main coordinator). ASEAN also has a blueprint in setting up communities under these pillars.
2. Vital National Mechanisms are:
2.1 ASEAN National Commission : Minister of Foreign Affairs is the Chairperson of the commission. This Commission is a mechanism to make a decision and coordinate with other sectors in policy level. This is to have state agencies to integrate their works and to prepare to become part of ASEAN Community with unity and effectiveness. This Commission holds meeting in every 2-3 months.
2.2 ASEAN National Secretariat: This secretariat has been set up according to Article 13 of ASEAN Charter. The Department of ASEAN Affairs, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is the Thai Secretariat. This Secretariat would serve as the national focal point in implementing ASEAN decision, preparing for ASEAN Summit, contributing to ASEAN Community building and keeping all ASEAN documents.
2.3 Committees : Sub-Committees to work according to ASEAN Community building in each pillar. Coordinated agencies of each pillar would take the position of chairperson of the committee.
3. Preparation of government agencies
To have Thai government agencies to be part of ASEAN Community effectively, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs has urged these issues:
3.1 Propose a setting up of ASEAN unit, that responsible for ASEAN directly, in each agency. So that this ASEAN Unit could do their work and prepare to become part of ASEAN Community effectively.
3.2 Coordinate with Office of the Civil Service Commission to have a project for enhancing knowledge and understanding of ASEAN for civil servants, improving skill of international negotiation, as well as, improving English and ASEAN languages skill for civil servants.
3.3 Amend and improve laws and regulations so that laws and regulations would conform to obligation of Thailand under framework of the three pillars of ASEAN, be up-to-date, increase the competitiveness and seize the opportunity from ASEAN Community.
3.4 Cooperate with Ministry of Education in acknowledging teachers and persons in concerns about ASEAN, so that they could pass on their knowledge of ASEAN to their schools and institutions.
4. Preparation among public
For the preparation among public, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs emphasized on awareness building so that people could be part of ASEAN Community building as follows:
4.1 ASEAN Journey Activity : focus on youth as main target and take border area as priority area
4.2 ASEAN Day Activity (8 August)
4.3 Hold seminars and provide lecturers for educational institutions as per request
4.4 Provide press release including printed materials, website, TV program, radio program with cooperation of the Government Public Relations Department. In order to build awareness and disseminate knowledge on ASEAN to the public, to support the civil society engagement, and to build the feeling of ASEAN belonging and ASEAN citizen
4.5 Support networks of ASEAN studies center, ASEAN studies programs under the responsibility of Ministry of Education
4.6 Organize Seminar Project on Role Model Teacher for ASEAN Community in order to have teachers as an instrument to disseminate knowledge on ASEAN to the youth
4.7 Organize ASEAN Youth Camp in order to give opportunity for youth to learn and interact with other ASEAN citizen
4.8 Support English and other ASEAN languages teaching
5. Preparation in the private sector and labor
For the private sector and labor to gain benefits from being part of ASEAN Community, especially for ASEAN to become Single Market and Production Base and to connect with global economy. There is a need for preparation in these issues:
5.1 Increase the potential of private sector and labor to meet requirement and enhance the competitiveness in ASEAN Market
5.2 Support the claim of benefit from Free Trade Agreement among ASEAN member and non-member countries such as China, Japan, South Korea, India, Australia and New Zealand.
5.3 Enhance the public engagement in policy making and international negotiation process.
5.4 Control the quality of goods to meet market demand and international standard
5.5 Enhance to build and use ASEAN business and entrepreneur networks.
5.6 Make a strategic plan for decreasing impact on Thai business sector especially for Small and Medium Enterprises.
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