Al Gore to meet Surayud in Bangkok next month

Vachara Phanchet, vice president of the Pacific Basin Economic Council (PBEC), said Gore's visit to Thailand has already been confirmed by his staff agency.

He will arrive on August 8 by a private plane.

Gore will meet Surayud and the energy minister to encourage the Thai government to become more concerned about the problem of global warming.

The meeting will be held at Government House at 4pm. After the executive meeting with the prime minister, Gore will deliver a talk at the Oriental Hotel at around 7pm and then spend an hour in discussion with the 300 participants. Gore will leave Bangkok on August 9.

"We hope Mr Gore's speech will be of benefit to PBEC's members and Thai society. We also would like to encourage people to adopt a business policy which shows more concern about environmental issues," said Vachara.

The dinner talk will focus on global warming and its impact on Thai society. The event is open to PBEC members and specially invited guests. Most of the participants will be govern?ment officials, scientists involved in environmental issues and representatives of the business sector.

Vachara said Bangkok will be the first place in Asia where Gore will be speaking on global warming issues.

The organiser hopes Gore's speech will have a positive impact on the people in Thailand and Southeast Asia.

The event is sponsored by PTT, DNM Strategies, Siam Commercial Bank, Thai Beverage, IBM, the Government Savings Bank, Green Spot, the British Dispensary (LP) Co, and the Nation Multimedia Group.

Surong Bulakul, executive vice president of international trading at PTT, said Gore had decided to visit Bangkok because the Thai government has implemented sound environmental policies such as the use of natural gas in cars and in public transport vehicles.

Moreover, Gore's speech will enhance Thai government policy.

PTT has started an environ?mental campaign to use unleaded petrol and a reforestation project, launched 10 years ago, to honour His Majesty the King.

After Gore's speech, PBEC will publish a brochure to dis?seminate his comments along with information about global warming.

Anond Snidvongs , a climate-change expert at Chulalongkorn University, who has been invited to join the event, said it was an opportunity to ask Gore about his support for global warming projects conducted by Chulalongkorn University and his support for Asean countries in improving their capacity to monitor the global warming impact in this region.

"I would like to know what Gore will propose for Thailand and what support he will give to Asean. I think his visit will be a hot topic in the short term but I urge the government to be concerned about longterm policies that will provide sustainable solutions to global warming," he said.

by Pongphon Sarnsamak

The Nation