Over 10m targeted to join Thailand's women’s development fund

BANGKOK, March 10 (TNA) - The Thai government has targeted that more than 10 million women will become members of the recently-set up women’s development fund by the end of this month, aimed at strengthening the Thai women's roles in becoming a key driving force for national development. Speaking during a weekly address on behalf of Thai Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra this morning, Minister Attached to the Prime Minister’s Office Nalinee Taveesin, in her capacity as the chairwoman of a government panel to drive ahead the fund, said that the new women's development fund now has some 7-8 million members and more Thai women aged above 15 nationwide are welcome to join, and that those who become the fund's members by March 31 are eligible to select the fund committee's members. Nalinee insisted that the new women's development fund focuses on developing the nation, not borrowing or creating debts by members, acknowledging that the government plans to allocate a 100-million-baht budget for each province, meaning that the Pheu Thai Party-led administration will totally spend 7.7 billion baht for the fund. According to the minister, the women's development fund functions similarly to the village fund programme, earlier launched by the government, as the earmarked 7.7 billion-baht budget is mainly aimed to boost national economy, through the development of women's occupations nationwide. Meanwhile, Natee Khlibthong, chief of the National Village and Urban Community Fund Office, said that the village fund programme has achieved considerable success at a certain level and now has about 12 million members, noting that the village fund has mainly helped develop public utilities in villages; while the new women’s development fund will concentrate on developing local women's roles and solving problems from the communal to the national levels. (TNA)