Addressing the seminar "Open House with Economic Ministers" yesterday, Kosit outlined four priorities the government would strive to achieve during its year-long tenure.

The following is an extract from Kosit's speech:

This is an interim government, as you all know. Our most important mission is to see to it that it only have a one-year tenure, after which Thailand will have an election. The next most important consideration is what the government can achieve in that year.

A lot of people have asked, "What can the interim government do in just one year?" I'll try to tell you. Naturally, we cannot do everything, so we need to prioritise the following areas:

First, this government inherited a lot of problems from the previous government. These are the issues that Minister Sitthichai [Pookaiyaudom] was telling you about. Many of them are urgent, so the most important task of this government is to try to find the best response to these issues. All of our ministries are now back at work. I expect most of the issues will be approached by next January, which is the month in which the budget is expected to be passed.

Why January? Because many resolutions require some reallocation of the budget. Many of these policies will be implemented prudently, to ensure that they do not cause problems later.

Second, we need to try and redirect our development policy. Why? Because over the past few years, we have all witnessed a large section of the Thai population begin to question the way our development policy has been carried out. Dissatisfaction has arisen from a certain type of development policy that was too strong and eventually led to some very severe circumstances. We ended up having a general election that society did not want to accept.

My idea of "sufficiency economy" is that we should add quality to the development process. Yet the application of a sufficiency economy can mean different things to different people. So broad objectives that make development more sustainable and include better risk management, governance and quality of life will be introduced.

Our third priority relates to globalisation. We are aware globalisation is moving on. What we would like to do is promote relationships with foreign countries. We are aware that through globalisation, some may gain, while others may be unable to adjust. With this in mind, we are adjusting ourselves and recognising that we may have to deal with those who cannot adjust. By giving them assistance in accordance with our sufficiency economy, we would strengthen them so that they could become equal players in the new globalised world.

The government believes we must keep adjusting ourselves to promote productivity, which is an important thing to us. The previous government said the biggest, the most important purpose in development was to create the highest possible growth rate, but not this one. This government will promote the sufficiency economy, which will provide a more balanced economy.

Globalisation is, for us, something we have to face. We look forward to working closely with our foreign friends. Everybody is welcome. The name of the game is that in the end, all parties should emerge stronger from win-win situations.

Fourth, we must devote ourselves to dealing with the problem in the South. We have made some progress, and we will continue to emphasise the need to improve the justice system. Everything is becoming much clearer. We think the best way the government can run public policy is to take the time to listen to all stakeholders. Participation is the name of the game, because social harmony will not be achieved without public participation.