Thailand Financial News

From 1-2 December, former U.S. President Bill Clinton  will make his final visit to the tsunami affected region as the UN
Secretary-General’s  Special  Envoy for Tsunami Recovery. President Clinton will  visit  locations  in  Tamil  Nadu (India), Phuket (Thailand) and Aceh (Indonesia),  three of the many areas along the Indian Ocean coastline that were  affected by the December 26, 2004 tsunami that took the lives of over 200,000  people.  He is expected to complete his two-year tenure as Special Envoy at year’s end.

During  his  tour,  President  Clinton  will review progress in the tsunami recovery  efforts over the last two years, visiting new permanent homes and schools.   He  will  also  focus  on programs that he has advocated for and coordinated  over  the  last two years, including efforts to promote equity and  empower communities to take charge of their own development, restoring livelihoods and promoting disaster resilience and disaster risk reduction. President Clinton will be in the region both to visit sites affected by the 2004  Asian  Tsunami  and  to  tour  locations where the Clinton Foundation HIV/AIDS    Initiative   (CHAI)   operates.   (For   information   on   the HIV/AIDS-focused  activities  and  country  visits  on the schedule, please contact the Clinton Foundation press office, at 1-212-348-0360.) In  his  capacity  as Tsunami Special Envoy, President Clinton’s will first travel  to Cuddalore, Tamil Nadu, on December 1, when he will visit a badly devastated  village  to see a new housing complex constructed for fishermen whose  homes  were  destroyed  by  the  tsunami and a rehabilitated school.
Reviewing progress on disaster risk reduction, he will also visit a cyclone shelter  with  a  newly installed early warning system and witness an early warning test and mock drill. On the morning of 2 December, President Clinton will be in Phuket, Thailand where  he will visit a small Moken (sea gypsy) community whose members have begun  to  rebuild their livelihoods and housing through a community driven
process.   This  village highlights the important efforts of the Royal Thai Government   to   address   land  rights  issues  for  Thailand’s  affected communities.   President  Clinton  will  also plant a mangrove tree in this village,  to  officially  launch  the  World  Conservation  Union’s  (IUCN) Mangroves for the Future (MFF) Initiative. MFF  is  a  multi-agency,  multi-country initiative that aims to strengthen coastal  ecosystems and livelihoods in the Indian Ocean region. It promotes long-term  investment  in  coastal  ecosystem  conservation  as development infrastructure,  and is initially targeting six countries badly affected by the  December  2004  tsunami:  India,  Indonesia, Maldives, Seychelles, Sri
Lanka, and Thailand. At  a  meeting  in  New  York on 31 October, President Clinton welcomed the Initiative  and described it as “a clear example of ‘building back better’, through   a   collaborative   effort   to   strengthen   the  environmental sustainability  of  coastal development in the tsunami affected region, and to promote investment in coastal ecosystem management.” On  the  afternoon  of  2  December,  President  Clinton  will  be in Aceh, Indonesia.  He  will visit one of the barrack sites built by the Government of  Indonesia  to  serve  as  a  temporary home for people displaced by the tsunami.  He  will  then  visit  a  transitional  shelter  site, run by the Australian  Red  Cross  ?  an  example  of  the  extraordinary  effort by a coalition  of  international partners and the government to move all people in  Aceh  and  Nias  out  of  tents.   The  Special  Envoy pressed hard for implementation   of   this  program,  through  which  over  14,000  durable transitional  shelters  have  now  been  constructed  throughout Aceh.  The shelters  are  providing accommodations for those who had formerly lived in tents  and are now awaiting permanent homes.  There are around 200 shelters at the site President Clinton will visit, housing around 900 people. President Clinton will then visit a recently completed permanent school and permanent homes in a community that was devastated by the tsunami.  He will visit  with teachers and students and present certificates of land title to several  new  homeowners in the community. Under the Reconstruction of Aceh Land   Administration   System  (RALAS)  Project,  financed  by  the  World Bank-managed  Multi  Donor  Fund,  it  is  anticipated  that  some  600,000 landowners will receive titles over a three year period, giving the tsunami survivors a solid legal basis to rebuild their lives. President  Clinton  will  conclude  his visit to Aceh by meeting with local government   representatives   and   former  Aceh  Freedom  Movement  (GAM) combatants,  to  review  the  positive impact on recovery of the Aceh peace process.  The Special Envoy will deliver remarks about the progress in Aceh and  the  importance  of sustainable efforts to build back better, of which the peace process is a crucial component.