Ms Chairman,
Distinguished Governors,
Ladies and Gentlemen

On behalf of Thailand, I would like to thank Mr. Fawzi Al Sultan, the out-going President of IFAD, for his valuable service and contributions and wish him every luck and success after the completion of his terms at IFAD. I would like to congratulate Iceland as a new member of IFAD. This certainly gives a wider coverage and a stronger impetus to IFAD as an increasingly important international organization.

I endorse the efforts made by the IFAD secretariat for producing very informative GC 24/L3 and GC 24/L5. I further endorse the Consultation to Review the Adequacy of the Resources Available to IFAD, particularly in emphasising the role of IFAD in eradicating rural poverty, strengthening food security among developing countries as well as in promoting strategic partnerships with various international and national agencies.

With regard to the Proposed Budget of IFAD for 2001, it is my intention to support the budget as proposed. However, I would like to call your attention to the rate of interest on IFAD loans, which is not attractive to those countries with low per capita GDP. I hereby urge the Council to reconsider lowering the rate of interest so as not to put unnecessary burden to these recipient countries.

Ms Chairman, I would like to explain what Thailand intends to do in next few years in line with the IFAD mandate and framework.

Thailand is now in a transitional period. The new government has been formed and will soon be running the country. Several new changes will emerge as a result of political campaign promises. Greater efforts will likely be forthcoming in assisting rural communities, particularly the rural poor. A number of programmes is in the pipeline. May I take this opportunity to mention a few of them.

 

A 3-year debt moratorium will be directed to those farmers who have obtained institutional loan through the Bank for Agriculture and Agricultural Cooperatives. Because of their financial hardship, under this programme they will be exempted from paying interest in these loans for a period of three years, during when the government will introduce agricultural re-structuring measures with the aim of reducing risks and increasing their competitiveness.

Under a one-million baht village fund programme, each individual village will be allocated with a million baht as a revolving fund to be utilized within the village to finance common as well as individual activities. This fund is regarded as supplemental to the regular government budget, although some re-allocation of financial resources is inevitable, since we are now in the second quarter of the current 2001 fiscal year. A significant characteristics of the one-million baht village fund is that local villagers can exercise their leverage on how the fund can be distributed in accordance with their own needs. Greater autonomy will be given to the villagers themselves.

In order to increase the degree of specialization, and lessen the need to spread limited financial and human resources over many production lines, the government will attempt to promote a one-village, one-product campaign throughout the country. In individual villages, a single product will be identified on the basis of comparative advantage over the rest of villages. An investment assessment will be made on production expansion and marketing opportunities. Financing can be obtained through the credit facility on small and medium enterprises (SME’s).

Ms Chairman, in order to undertake these programmes successfully, Thailand will need assistance and cooperation from the international communities including the IFAD which has a remarkable record of rural poverty alleviation in developing and transitional economies. Although Thailand is one the path of economic recovery from the 1997 financial crisis, which sent shockwaves to much of the Asian region, we are fully committed to the IFAD mandate and the resulting deliberations. We are, in particular, allocating a small budget to the IFAD’s Fifth Replenishment. Hopefully, this will signify our appreciation to the valuable contributions made by the IFAD to the developing world.

Thank you.