Northern issues on agenda as Thai PM heads to Chiang Rai

This week’s cabinet meeting is to be conducted in Chiang Mai on Friday as Prime Minister Paetongtarn Shinawatra leads a cabinet tour to the northern province and its neighbouring province, Chiang Rai.
The visit is planed for Thursday until Sunday (Nov 28-Dec 1), Jirayu Houngsub, spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, said.
The northern mobile cabinet meeting is one of a vast array of functions the PM will be attending in both Chiang Mai and Chiang Rai, and is an important part of the government’s bid to promote northern tourism, which is aimed at salvaging the North’s economy after the past major floods, he said on Sunday.
Among these key functions of the PM is the inspection of measures prepared for tackling wildfires and the consequent haze problem, which usually impacts the North and mars its tourism from around the end of the cold season until summer, he said.
Tourism promotion in the northern provinces in the post-flood period is also high on the agenda as tourism is expected to be a core mechanism to help generate income and spur the region’s economy, he said.
The PM and cabinet ministers are to leave for Chiang Mai at 8pm on Thursday on a flight from the Royal Air Force’s Wing 6 in Don Muang district to Chiang Mai International Airport, he said.
At 10am on Friday, she is to chair the mobile cabinet meeting at Chiang Mai Rajabhat University in Mae Rim district, said the spokesman.
Later in the day the PM will be attending various functions including a meeting on the preparation for handling the seasonal bushfires and their consequences, particularly the hazardous PM2.5 ultra-fine dust pollution.
Aside from these various functions in Chiang Mai, the PM will also travel to neighbouring Chiang Rai where she will also be attending a meeting on economic recovery and flood prevention plans in Mae Sai district, said Mr Jirayu.