ANUCHA CHAROENPO & THANIDA TANSUBHAPOL
Deputy Prime Minister Sahas Banditkul has been picked to lead the Thai delegation to the forthcoming Asean ministerial meeting in Singapore, deputy government spokeswoman Suparat Nakboonnam said yesterday.
Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej's first choice was Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Mingkwan Sangsuwan, but he was not available for the meeting of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) foreign ministers.
The meeting starts on Monday, but senior officials will hold talks on Friday to prepare the agenda.
Ms Suparat said the prime minister picked Mr Sahas, but he was not in the cabinet meeting yesterday.
If Mr Sahas is unavailable to attend the Asean meeting, the leader of the Thai delegations will be Deputy Prime Minister and Finance Minister Surapong Suebwonglee, she said.
Asean Department director-general Vithawas Sivihok said Mr Mingkwan will be tied up in Qatar with another meeting of the World Trade Organisation.
The top post at the Foreign Ministry is vacant after Noppadon Pattama resigned on Thursday due to the controversial Preah Vihear issue.
The prime minister admitted his cabinet ministers were reluctant to lead the Thai delegation, which has to sign five documents at the meeting.
"Thailand will assume the chairmanship of Asean from this month and we have no foreign minister. And no one from the cabinet wants to replace him to sign international agreements at the meeting," said Mr Samak.
The prime minister was referring to the Constitution Court's ruling about the Thai-Cambodian joint communique, signed by Mr Noppadon to endorse the listing of Preah Vihear as a World Heritage site without parliament approval. The court ruled that the agreement needed the stamp of approval from parliament.
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