Mr Chairman,
Mr President,
Governors,
Distinguished guests,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is an honour for me to represent Thailand to the 30th Session of the Governing Council of IFAD.  Please let me congratulate Mr Chairman for having been elected.

I am pleased to learn that the focus of this year’s Governing Council meeting, as indicated by the theme, is rural employment and rural livelihood which, I believe, are the key issues to the achievements of the Millennium Development Goals, especially, poverty reduction.  As we all know agriculture is the mainstay for much of the population and provides valuable livelihood for rural people in most developing countries.  Therefore, t is necessary for governments to encourage greater investment in agriculture to promote rural employment opportunities.

In Thailand, at the national policy level, emphasis has always been placed on agricultural and rural development.  Public investment was extensive in terms of physical infrastructure, such as roads, dams, reservoirs, etc. and in terms of social infrastructure like schools and colleges.  Direct investment in agriculture was also encouraged, as the government provided concessional loans to agricultural cooperatives in specific key areas, for example, warehouses, rice mills and oil palm refineries.  The private sector was also attracted to invest, with export expansion as a major policy driver.  There have been lessons learned and we are determined to make further progress in the investment in agriculture so as to bring about greater employment opportunities, and in the final analysis, agricultural and rural development.

At present, our development efforts are being strengthened        by the adoption of the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy, introduced by his Majesty the King of Thailand.  In its application to the farming communities, farmers are encouraged to better utilise their scarce resources, taking into full consideration the reality of natural calamities and other risks.  They should economise their spending and strive for self-reliance.  Unnecessary excesses like over-investment and over-spending can eventually hamper their livelihood.  They should be avoided.  In line with this, the government has mobilised forty local intellectuals and their network to provide intensive training courses to more than 20 000 farmers this year, with emphasis on the Sufficiency Economy Principle and its actual applications to farming.  Thai people are now more confident in their future with the new light thrown upon them by His Majesty the King.  For a better understanding of the philosophy, I invite everyone to read the UNDP Report on the Development of Thailand for 2007.  In brief, the report explains that “sufficiency theory is for sustainability, moderation and broad-based development; and against excessive risk-taking, inequality and other evils”.

Mr Chairman, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I am pleased to learn that IFAD has formulated and is undertaking a number of development programmes in our region.  I believe that an international organization like IFAD can play an important role in promoting agricultural development through rural employment creation.  So, I welcome the increasing role of IFAD in the region, and Thailand is more than willing to be associated with IFAD in its endeavour.

Finally, I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate IFAD for successes it has achieved in its business during the past three decades.  I wish the new management system now in place within IFAD will further enhance its success in future.

Thank you.

Dr Suthiporn Chirapanda
Deputy Permanent Secretary
Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives