Government:Thailand benefits from NASA using U-tapao Airport

BANGKOK, October 6 (TNA) - The government has insisted Thailand will benefit from allowing the US National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) conduct climate studies at the U-tapao military airport in the country’s eastern Rayong province. Speaking during the weekly broadcast program of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra, Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul dismissed charges by the opposition side that Thailand’s security should be threatened if NASA is given the green light to use the U-tapao military airport in conducting its climate studies. Surapong acknowledged that several Southeast Asian countries, including Cambodia, Singapore and Indonesia, all fellow members of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), have supported Thailand in allowing NASA to conduct its climate studies in the region. Meanwhile, Thai Science and Technology Minister Plodprasop Suraswadi also gave his full support, pointing out that the NASA’s three-month research project will enable Thailand to calculate climatic conditions accurately and protection from bad weather can later be made timely. Plodprasop noted that the Thai government will allow anybody who is in doubts of the program to then inspect the NASA plane. (TNA)