..Press Release................................ UNESCAP News Services

Date 26 September 2005
Press Release No: N/46/2005

THAILAND’S US$ 10 MILLION KICK-STARTS
UNESCAP TSUNAMI REGIONAL TRUST FUND

Joint Press Release from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand and the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific

Bangkok (UN Information Services) -- A regional trust fund to support tsunami early warning arrangements in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia is being launched today with a US$ 10 million contribution by the Government of Thailand. The fund will be managed by the United Nations Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (UNESCAP), which is the regional arm of the United Nations for Asia and the Pacific. The Thai Minister of Foreign Affairs, H.E. Dr. Kantathi Suphamongkhon, and H.E. Dr. Kim Hak-Su, United Nations Under-Secretary-General and Executive Secretary of UNESCAP, will sign the trust fund agreement on 26 September 2005 at a ceremony at the Ministry.

The trust fund will contribute to the broader United Nations response to the tsunami by supporting development of a regional early warning system that would take the form of a network of national and regional centres. The fund will assist these centres to build capacity in terms of technologies, organizational arrangements and expertise. Thailand is cooperating with the Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), an international entity situated in Thailand, in establishing one such regional centre.

Under the trust fund agreement, which will be administered by UNESCAP, a trust fund Advisory Council will be set up. This Advisory Council will include representatives of UNESCAP and key donors to the trust fund, including Thailand, the foundation donor.

Thailand has also been doing its utmost to ensure an effective region-wide tsunami early warning system, which is much needed to prevent the tragic event of December last year from ever happening again. In addition to its pioneering initiative on the trust fund, Thailand is one of five countries in the Indian Ocean that is planning and intends to develop national capability to detect, analyze and provide timely warning of tsunamis generated along the Indonesian seismic zone and its extensions. This undertaking is an integral part of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning System being coordinated by the Intergovernmental Oceanographic Commission (IOC) of UNESCO. In assisting national and regional tsunami early warning centres to build their capacity, the trust fund aims to complement these efforts.

The Prime Minister of Thailand, H.E. Dr. Thaksin Shinawatra, had announced Thailand’s pledge to the trust fund at the Ministerial Meeting on Tsunami Early Warning Arrangements, held earlier this year in Phuket.

“We expect that UNESCAP, with its headquarters in Bangkok, and its wealth of experience and credibility, will be able to play a major role in administering the Fund,” he declared.

“I call on other nations to match this contribution and give teeth to our joint efforts in protecting the peoples along the coastline of this region…as well as safety to millions more of our visitors.”

Countries in the Indian Ocean and Southeast Asia that wish to make use of the trust fund are encouraged to convey their requests to UNESCAP and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Thailand.

For further information, please contact Department of International Organizations, Ministry of Foreign Affairs, at 0-2643-5000 ext. 2544 or 2299 or UNESCAP at 0-2288-1935

* *** *