Mr. Chairperson,
Mr. President of IFAD,
Distinguished Governors,
Ladies and Gentlemen,

It is my honor to represent the Royal Thai Government to the 31st Session of the Governing Council on behalf of Thailand’s Governor to IFAD, Mr. Jaranthada Karnasuta, Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.

Let me start by congratulating you, Mr. Chairperson, and the Vice-Chairpersons for your election to this important task and wishing you every success.  We wish also to welcome the Bahamas as a new member of IFAD.

Thailand has always recognized the important role that IFAD has played in coping with new global challenges and in persisting in its efforts to alleviate poverty and hunger around the world.  I would also like to applaud its achievements and its efforts in enhancing sustainability of its development projects. 

In line with IFAD’s approach of development, Thailand has also attached great importance on the sustainability of its national development programs.  The current Tenth Economic and Social Development Board which covers 2007-2011 has adopted “the Sufficiency Economy Philosophy” of H.M. the King as a policy guiding principle for the country’s overall development in a sustainable manner. 

“Sufficiency Economy is a philosophy that guides the livelihood and behavior of people at all levels, from the family to the community to the country, on matters concerning national development and administration. It calls for a ‘middle way’ or a “middle path” to be observed, especially in pursuing economic development in keeping with the world of globalization.

Sufficiency means “moderation” and “reasonableness”, including “the need to build a reasonable immune system against shocks from the outside or from the inside”.

The Tenth National Plan aims at building a knowledgeable and virtuous Thai society and resiliency of the citizens to meet changes.  It also focuses on building strong communities to serve as building blocks for the nation and on enhancing people to co-exist happily with the environment to ensure good quality of life and to preserve and protect nature for the future generations.

In parallel with the development in our country, Thailand is also contributing to the development in the region.  We collaborate with IFAD and FAO under the South-South Cooperation scheme to provide assistance in terms of technical expertise to neighboring countries, such as Cambodia, Lao PDR and Myanmar, through the project entitled, “Enhancing Agricultural Competitiveness of Rural Households in Greater Mekong Sub-region”.  The objective of this project is to improve livelihoods, income and agricultural competitiveness of rural households in the context of a regionally integrated Greater Mekong Sub-region.

Regarding cooperation with IFAD, I would like to put on record our thanks to IFAD for granting the Monitoring and Evaluation Training Needs Assessment Project to Thailand’s Office of Agricultural Economics, Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives. 

The project which covers one year, starting from September 2007 until September 2008, aims to strengthen the capacity of government officials in monitoring and evaluation.  This paves the way towards the Office’s long-term target of being the Center of Excellence for Monitoring and Evaluation in the country and in the region.

With regards to the issues of discussion in this Session, we would like to point out the followings:

First, we have learnt that the total amount of payments received for the 7th Replenishment is only 41% of the set target of USD720 million and that it is still far below the pledged amount.

We understand the concern that IFAD must have for its operation in spite of the fact that the 7th Replenishment will end in December 2009 and that Consultation on the 8th Replenishment will take place soon this year. 

Even though Thailand did not pledge for the 7th Replenishment, we are pleased to inform the Governing Council that a cheque of USD 150,000 representing Thailand ’s contribution to the 7th Replenishment was sent from Bangkok two weeks ago by registered mail.

It is therefore expected to arrive here any time soon.

Second, on the Performance-Based Allocation System (PBAS) methodology, we welcome the introduction of rural population concept which corresponds to IFAD’s scope of work focusing on agricultural development and involving rural people. The use of the latest rural population figures available through the World Bank for the calculation of 2008 and 2009 country scores is a good choice. 

However, it is understood that further refinement would be needed as it was made in 2006 by using individual country policy and institutional assessment scores.

Third, the global issues of Climate Change, Bio-energy Production and Increasing Prices of Agricultural Commodities are of great interest and concern in every forum. They are inter-related and can have both positive and negative impacts on food security of the rural poor.  It can be expected that deliberations made in each round table will be rich in ideas and will serve as valuable inputs for the formulation of IFAD’s and national governments’ rural development program. 

In conclusion, I would like to confirm Thailand’s strong determination to cooperate with IFAD and with any countries, both bi-laterally and multi-laterally, towards the common Millennium Development Goals (MDGs).