A survey released on Saturday indicates that most Thais feel their country will greatly benefit from hosting the ASEAN Summit and Related Summits tentatively scheduled on June 13, 14 in Phuket.
The ABAC poll, conducted by Assumption University, found a good deal of interest in the ASEAN summits, with 55.3 percent saying that Thailand will receive “huge or great” benefit from the event up from 46.8 percent in February while 40.8 percent saying the country will “benefit little or will not benefit from the event” down from 53.2 percent.
The 14th ASEAN Summit and Related Summits was initially scheduled to be held on April 10-12 in Pattaya, but the Thai government announced the postponement of it on April 11 after anti-government red-shirted protesters stormed into the venue.
On May 4, Thai government said it will propose to other ASEAN leaders and dialogue partner leaders to host the meeting during June 13-14 in Phuket.
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The venue will likely be Hilton Arcadia Hotel at Karon Beach.
Asean secretary-general Surin Pitsuwan said the Jakarta-based Asean Secretariat was working closely with host Thailand to consult with participating countries to hold the summit next month.
Surin, a former Thai foreign minister and ex-leader of Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva’s Democrat Party, said it was important to hold the summit as soon as possible as many issues relating to the current economic downturn needed to be discussed.
- All the documents are ready and many important items are on the agenda, he said.
Among the issues most want to be jointly addressed at the meeting, cooperation on international trade took first place with 90.9 percent, followed by infectious disease and public health with 84.8 percent and combat weapons with 76.6 percent.
Meanwhile, 88.1 percent of the respondents expressed their pride that Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, former Thai Foreign Minister acting as ASEAN Secretary-General.
The poll was conducted among 1,302 families in 17 provinces including Bangkok on Friday, May 8 2009.
The Summit gathers 10 Asean members, China, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand and India.
Source: ABAC Poll, Xinhua, Bernama
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