Thai Government begins reconciliation forum with political parties
Thailand's military government on February 14 held the first session of its reconciliation forum to hear ideas and suggestions from political groups and parties on how to heal rifts and strengthen national unity.
Hanoi (VNA) - Thailand's military government on February 14 held the first sessionof its reconciliation forum to hear ideas and suggestions from political groupsand parties on how to heal rifts and strengthen national unity.
Chaired by DefenceMinistry's Permanent Secretary Chaicharn Changmongkol, the forum saw theattendance of representatives of three small political parties, namely the NewAspiration Party, the Farmers Network of Thailand Party and Commoners Party, noneof which have seats in the House of Representatives.
Speaking toreporters after the four-hour meeting, the Defence Ministry's spokesmanKongcheep Tantrawanich said the discussions were conducted "withtransparency and sincerity," and the three parties contributed importantideas.
Dozens ofpolitical groups have been invited to participate in future sessions of theforum, including major political parties like the Pheu Thai Party and theDemocrat Party.
Thai PrimeMinister Prayut Chan-o-cha had earlier saidthat certain political topics which might still be heatedly debatable andunconcluded will not be raised during the planned meetings between the invitedpoliticians and the opinion-gathering subcommittee.
Deputy PrimeMinister and Defense Minister Prawit Wongsuwan said it will take three monthsfor the subcommittee to hear and gather views of the politicians from anestimated 70 existing parties. None of the parties, he said, had turned downthe invitation to join in the national reconciliation effort.-VNA
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Illustrative image (Source: Getty Images) 
