National strategy plans are the right path: Supachai

He said the government’s long-term national strategy was necessary for the country. 
That was the reason he accepted his appointment as an adviser to the government’s super-committee on reform, national strategy and reconciliation building, whose Thai abbreviation is Por Yor Por, he added.
Supachai also called for cooperation from all sectors to ensure success. “As the prime minister said, we need to merge the national strategy with the national development plan,” he told reporters at Government House after meeting with Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha.
When asked if he was confident the government’s approach would succeed, Supachai replied: “Yes, I am. This effort must be done. We can’t go without it.”
Supachai served as director-general of the WTO between 2002 and 2005, and later as secretary-general of the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development from 2005 to 2013. In the 1990s, he served as deputy prime minister in charge of trade and economics and also commerce minister in Democrat-led governments.
A total of 39 experts met with the PM for the first time yesterday as advisers to the Por Yor Por.
At the meeting, many advisers suggested that the focus should be on education and improvement of the human resource, according to Ekkachai Srivilas, one of the advisers.
The advisers also suggested to the PM that opinions should be collected from the public and that public participation should be encouraged, Ekkachai said. 
He said that two new laws would be issued – on the national strategy and reform – to facilitate the super-committee’s work.
Regarding reconciliation, Tongthong Chandrangsu, another adviser, said they suggested that proposals from past panels on how to achieve reconciliation should be taken into consideration.
 Some subcommittees under the super-committee will be dissolved to avoid redundancy, its secretary Suvit Maesincee said yesterday.
Suvit was responding to concerns that a large number of subcommittees would cause confusion. After the super-committee was settled, the irrelevant bodies will be dissolved to avoid complication, he said.
The PM wants to gather opinions from the experts appointed to the super-committee regarding plans to drive the national strategy, reform and reconciliation building, according to Suvit.
Suvit said the PM wanted to gather opinions from the experts on the future of the country and the drive for a national strategy, reform and reconciliation.
Suvit said the PM discussed the aims of the super-committee.
Three tasks will be worked on this year and handed over to the new |government next year, he added.
In the next two weeks, he said, |the secretaries of the four subcommittees would convene to report their progress. 
The super-committee will meet on April 20, he added.
Prayut, creator of the new reform and reconciliation scheme, thanked the 39 experts for their sacrifice to help drive the country forward and said he hoped the country would be strong, prosperous and sustainable in line with his vision. 
This year was the year of reform, he said, although the process started in 2014 when he came to power.