Don says e-passport stock won’t run out

The Nation

Foreign Minister Don Pramudwinai on Friday reaffirmed that the e-passport issuance service will continue as usual despite earlier reports the ministry was set to run out of passports.

“We have enough supply of the books and we don’t expect it to be finished any day,” Don said.

Don echoed a similar statement issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) on Wednesday, a day after Government Spokesman Lt-General Sansern Kaewkamnerd said the MFA had requested that the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) issue an Article 44 order to prolong soon-to-end issuances.

According to Sansern, an outsourced consortium issuing passports for the MFA holds seven million books. As of Tuesday, 6.97 million books were already made, meaning that it could issue only another 30,000 books, a number that would meet demand for only three days.

The MFA then asked for the NCPO order to allow it to prolong the contract with the consortium, given that a protocol-based bidding process for the service could take as much as a year.

The NCPO refused the request but said that it would assign its legal adviser, Deputy Prime Minister Wissanu Krea-ngam, to talk with the Office of the Auditor General to be “flexible” with regulations concerning the process as the MFA might skip the bidding process.

The MFA set a medium price for the next lot of e-passports in January. The price announcement can be found on the MFA’s website.

The MFA has not explained why the issuance will continue despite the aforementioned issues and why this routine process hit a speed bump.

Commemorative ceremonies were held by both respective countries.

The Thai Embassy in Paris was honoured by HRH Princess Sirivannavari Nariratana as keynote speaker for a seminar on relations between both countries.

The French Embassy in Bangkok hosted a banquet to celebrate the milestone year.

Hundreds of guests were served Thai favourites som tam and pad thai as well as French classics brie cheese and foie gras baguette at the French ambassador’s riversdie residence.

Th event included a high school chorus which sang in French and was followed by the revered Sansoen Phra Barami (the royal anthem in glory to the King).

The blend of fine music and gastronomy were meant to reflect the French value of having pleasant lives, said French Ambassador Gilles Garachon shortly before the party started.

“Thai and French people share sophistication in living,” Garachon said. “This is what guarantees good relations, on a basis of having good lives and not hurting anybody.”

The earliest ties between the two countries date back to the 17th century, when Siamese King Narai sent the first delegation to visit Louis XIV in Versailles. The next couple of centuries were when France trying to influence the Southeast Asian Kingdom, from attempts to Christianise the country to the territorial Franco-Siamese War in the late 19th century.

In modern times, the two nations have elevated ties as a strategic partnerships since 2004.

Now, France is the third-largest European investor and the 10th largest global investor in Thailand. Its investments in the Kingdom have more than doubled since 2006 to more than US$3.15 billion (Bt110.4 billion). Around 350 French companies, such as Michelin, Lacoste and Saint Gobain, operate in Thailand.

In 2014 and with a trade volume of $3.89 billion, the Kingdom was France’s third-largest trading partner in Asean. Prominent Thai companies, such as Thai Union Frozen Products, PTT Global Chemical and Double A, have investment records in France.

France also emphasis cooperation on science, innovation and education with the Kingdom, the ambassador said.

Several French research centres have been set up in the Kingdom while Alliance Française provides courses in French in Bangkok, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai and Phuket. France accommodates around 600 Thai students and provides 150 scholarships to Thai universities.

Approximately 100,000 Thais travelled to France and some 730,000 French visited Thailand in a recent year. Around 35,000 French nationals, ranging from young entrepreneurs to retirees, live in Thailand, the ambassador said.

While Garachon refused to speak politically at the event, France, like other Western countries, responded to the 2014 coup by calling for a return to fundamental freedoms and the electoral process. France is also known to shelter lese majeste violators, notably Somsak Jeamteerasakula and Saran Chuchai, aka “Aum Neko”.

The Ambassador said he had no information regarding them.

“Things are so interconnected these days that it is hard to know exact places of individuals, who are also with freedom to travel,” he said. “The only thing I can say is the lese majeste is a law of Thailand but has not existed in France for a long time.”

Nong Khai governor Suchart Nopphawan announced the seizure of 322 kilograms of marijuana sticks, estimated to be worth about Bt2.25 million, which were found in nine fish seed sacks covered in black bags.

“Military officers got a tip-off that drugs would be trafficked into the country near the water pumping station between Ban Mai Sai Thong and Ban Nong Kung Nuea villages in Phon Phisai district.

“I ordered the military to combine forces with relevant agencies to keep close watch on anything suspicious in the area. At 10.30pm last night, they found two long-tail boats docked and 10 to 15 men carrying stuff to the shore.

“When the authorities showed up, the men quickly dropped their stuff into the water and turned their boats back to the opposite bank. We suspect they were part of a drug-smuggling network. They just dropped the stuff off for somebody else to take it further into the country,” said Suchart.

Pha Ngan district chief Krirkkrai Songthanee inspected the Sai Daeng resort on Friday after pictures of the water-slide construction appeared in social media and raised many eyebrows.

“The ongoing construction has taken place without permission. So, I order the construction of the water slide be removed within 15 days from now,” he said.

He added that relevant authorities would also look into whether the Sai Daeng resort was operating legally. At this point, resort manager Kijja Senajit can provide only land-rights documents and the request to operate a resort.

The request was submitted in 2015 but it remains unclear whether the request has been approved.

“We have not yet ordered the closure of the resort because there are many agencies involved. We will have to investigate further,” Krirkkrai said.

Kijja said the resort would comply with the order and explained that they had planned to erect the water slide to provide additional facilities for tourists. “We don’t intend to use a water slide to generate extra income,” he said.

The exhibition will show the pictures of the life of foreign workers who came to Bangkok to toil in the construction industry.

It was described in the invitation of the event that the exhibition is a look at the lives of migrant workers from Cambodia who occupied temporary tin-walled structures as they build Bangkok’s booming luxury condominium industry.

“Their own living conditions are of stark difference, raising health and safety concerns for the workers and their families. This emerging Thai photographer’s work shows the parallel world in the shadows beneath the rising towers of Bangkok, the ‘City of Angels’,” it stated.

The exhibition runs from 7pm to 10pm and the entry is free.