Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha is gratified by a recent decision by a standing committee of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES) to remove Thailand from the blacklist of countries involved in the illegal ivory trade, government spokesman Lt Gen Sansern Kaewkamnerd said on Sunday.
Lt Gen Sansern said the prime minister regards this as a big success, since for several years Thailand had been branded as one of the world's major markets for trafficking in ivory. Most of the tusks were from wild elephants killed in Africa and smuggled into the country, he added.
To cope with the problem, the Thai government in 2014 launched an operation to suppress the ivory trade in Thailand and amended two related laws -- the Wildlife Conservation and Protection Act of 2014 and the Elephant Tusks Act of 2015 -- to better control those in possession of elephant tusks, he said.
Lt Gen Sansern said the prime minister has instructed all related agencies to continue their efforts to suppress the illegal ivory trade, because the removal of Thailand from the blacklist has saved the country from the risk of sanctions which would have hurt the legitimate trade of more than 3,500 kinds of plants and animals worth more than 47 billion baht per year.
More importantly, he added, Thailand's success in combating the illegal ivory trade can help save the lives of wild African elephants - 20,000 of which are killed each year.
The spokesman said the prime minister also wants agencies concerned and the general public to prevent Thai elephants from being tortured or misused by calling hotline 1362 around the clock if they see any illegal practices.
The standing committee of CITES decided at a meeting in Sochi, Russia during Oct 1-5 to remove Thailand from CITES National Ivory Action Plan (NIAP) after it declared satisfaction with the kingdom's efforts to crack down on the illegal trade of ivory tusks.
Thailand was one of eight countries placed on the NIAP watchlist. China, Kenya, the Philippines and Uganda were also deleted from the list.