thailand gms 12 03 02

vna

THAILAND PURCHASES ELECTRICITY FROM REGIONAL COUNTRIES

   Bangkok, March 11 (VNA) -- Thailand has signed bilateral contracts to purchase electricity from Myanmar, Laos, Cambodia and China, General Secretary of Thailand's Energy Policy Committee Piyasawat Amaranand was quoted as saying.
   Piyasawat Amaranand told the Bussiness Day newspaper reporter recently that the establishment of a Regional Electricity Market (REM) within the Mekong Sub-committee will boost the exchange of electricity among its member countries with a view to meeting their growing demands for electricity and reducing power production cost.
   Six countries of the Mekong sub-committee, including China, Thailand, Laos, Viet Nam, Cambodia and Myanmar, are capable of setting up a common power market and building electricity transmission networks in the next 20 years, according to a report by the World Bank in 1998.
   REM will help reduce negative impacts, caused by fuel use, to environment.--VNA