Donors Warn of Lost Foreign Expertise

Foreign donors yesterday said the government's plan to refuse further foreign assistance would deprive the Kingdom of foreign expertise and cooperation with developed countries.

The government's "Equal Partnership" policy means that Thailand will no longer acquire technical assistance from foreign countries in the form of Official Development Assistance (ODA).

Stephen Walker, first-secretary of the Australia Agency for International Development (AusAID), said that all forms of technical cooperation were classified as ODA, whether they come from the government or aid agencies.

The Foreign Ministry yesterday briefed diplomats and representatives of foreign aid agencies that Thailand's new policy was to seek foreign cooperation on an equal basis, rather than in the form of donor assistance, said Pradap Pibulsonggram, director-general of the ministry's Department of Economic and Technical Cooperation.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra last month announced that Thailand would stop receiving foreign assistance by 2004. "If the ODA is removed from cooperation with Australia, I don't know where that will lead us," Walker said.

"If Thailand is looking for zero ODA input, then we will have to figure out how this will work out."

Pradap said that Australia would have to find a way to have similar technical cooperation with Thailand as it does with New Zealand.

"We do not want to interfere with their domestic affairs, with regard to how they source the money," he said.

Thailand receives ODA from developed countries in three forms - grants, soft loans and technical assistance.

Pradap said Thailand stopped receiving grants for some time, as the economy has improved, and the country does not need soft loans at the moment.

"So the remaining cooperation is technical assistance, which we would like to do in the form of equal partnership," he said.

A representative from the United Nations Development Programme said Thailand's refusal to accept further ODA was tantamount to "closing the door" on expertise from other countries.

Pradap said Thailand no longer needs foreign assistance that comes with certain conditions.

In 2002, Thailand received Bt3 billion in financial assistance from foreign donors. Thailand in turn gave about Bt117 million in aid to neighbouring countries.