‘Forward Cabinet’ meets to resolve problems in southern border provinces

 The project is aimed at elevating three districts in the southern border provinces into model cities to bring changes in the southern economic structure.
The team’s secretary, former secretary-general of Southern Border Provinces Administrative Centre (SBPAC) Panu Uthairat, yesterday said the team’s leader, Deputy Defence Minister General Udomdech Sitabutr, and team members would meet today with the Committee to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Command’s Provinces’ Front Command Office. Their goal is to solve problems in the area’s front command office at the 15th Infantry Division Command in Pattani’s Nong Chik district. 
In this first full-team visit to the deep South, they were hoping to get information from the locals on how to move forward the “Triangle of Stability, Prosperity, and Sustainability” project and also introduce all the 13 “Forward Cabinet” members to the people, Panu said. 
The team would affirm to the heads of state agencies that some delays in the past would no longer be problems as the government set up the team to speed things up and hopefully make things easier. 
He said certain things that were once obstructed by budgetary regulations would be resolved by amendments to support the project zone development.
A week after its establishment on October 4, the team – which also served the Committee to Mobilise Policy and Strategy to Solve Problems in the Southern Border Provinces’ Front Command – listened to officials at 15 ministries and 44 related agencies in regard to the seven working plans. 
Panu said the “front command Cabinet” would co-ordinate works that didn’t need to wait for the committee, chaired by Deputy Prime Minister General Prawit Wongsuwan. 
He said the team had direct reach to Prawit to pass the matter onto Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha and things would materialised clearer and faster. 
Panu recalled that during their meetings with officials about the seven working plans, they already noticed issues that must be specifically co-ordinated such as the justice granted to ‘misguided’ persons/suspects on security-related charges, giving them the chance to turn a new leaf and receive vocational training as per the Article 21 of the National Security Act. 
He said many ministries were involved in such works and the team would set up a specific procedure to ensure smooth operations. He said there were also 8,000 national security cases that must be resolved hence the need to add more investigators and to motivate the existing ones to ensure fast and just prosecution.
Pattani Chamber of Commerce chair Sirichai Piticharoen said he would attend the meeting today to hear what the team’s roles were and how the business sector could help.