THAILAND: FM KASIT COMMENTS ON REGIONAL APPROACHES

UNCLAS BANGKOK 000395 SENSITIVE SIPDIS STATE FOR EAP/MLS, NSC FOR PHU E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL PREF TH SUBJECT: THAILAND: FM KASIT COMMENTS ON REGIONAL APPROACHES TO ROHINGYA CHALLENGE: BALI PROCESS, ASEAN SUMMIT ¶1. (SBU) Thai FM Kasit Piromya addressed Thai thoughts on regional approaches to the Rohingya challenge February 13 in comments to the Harvard Club of Thailand. Referencing his early February meeting in Geneva with the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, Kasit reiterated RTG intent to work with the international commmunity and in particular UNHCR to develop a comprehensive plan of action. Thailand's experience with Vietnamese boat people a generation earlier offered a possible template for addressing the policy challenge, he suggested. ¶2. (SBU) Describing his just completed February 11-12 visit to Jakarta, Kasit said that he had discussed the Rohingya with the Indonesian President and FM. Both countries had agreed on the wisdom of moving up the next meeting of the Bali process on migration from June to late March to address the Rohingya, Kasit noted. Kasit also referenced the possibility of a side meeting at the upcoming February 27-March 1 ASEAN Summit in Hua Hin, to involve Bangladesh as well. (Note: working level MFA ASEAN officials told us February 17 that the Rohingya side session involving Bangladesh was not yet set). JOHN