Thai government to invest on four development areas

BANGKOK, January 27 (TNA) - The Thai government will soon issue a bill authorising loans amounting about 2 trillion baht to be spent on developing the country in four major areas. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra told the public of the plan during her weekly radio and TV programme on Saturday, saying that the four major planned strategies are aimed to further boost the country’s competitiveness in the lead-up to the ASEAN Economic Community (AEC), scheduled to be formed by 2015. Yingluck acknowledged that part of the loans will finance new transport infrastructure projects, covering extended high-speed train systems, which will help create some 500,000 new jobs annually. According to the prime minister, the second strategy will help narrow economic, political and social gaps in the country, as the government plans to invest massively on basic infrastructures, as well as to further develop national education and people's standards of living. On the third major planned strategy, the prime minister noted, her government plans to develop the national economy in parallel with improving the environment to turn Thailand to become a "green" society; while the fourth strategy will be focused on improving the public sector and ridding of corruption through using innovative technologies. (TNA)