Thailand prepares to receive Suu Kyi

BANGKOK, May 29 (TNA) - Authorities of Thailand’s northwestern Tak province are preparing to welcome Myanmar opposition leader and key democratic activist Aung San Suu Kyi, who will visit Karen refugee camps there, as part of her visit to Thailand to attend the World Economic Forum (WEF) on East Asia 2012 in Bangkok later this week, her first overseas trip after 1988. Suu Kyi, who is also a newly-elected member of the Myanmar House of Representatives, will arrive in Thailand Tuesday night for the WEF on East Asia, which will gather senior government officials and key business leaders of East Asia at Bangkok's Shangri-La Hotel from May 31-June 1. Upon her arrival in Thailand, Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace Prize laureate, is scheduled to first visit Myanmar people at a nationality verification center in Bangkok's suburban Samut Sakhon Province and at a shrimp market on Rama II Road tomorrow. On June 2, she will visit three Karen refugee camps in Tak, including Baan Nupho camp in Umgphang district, Baan Umpiam camp in Phop Phra district and Baan Maela camp in Tha Song Yang district, in which about 100,000 Myanmar refugees live. A Myanmar ethnic leader asked Suu Kyi to meet the refugees to listen to their problems. Tak Governor Suriya Prasartbundit said that he has been informed of Suu Kyi’s planned visit by the Thai Ministries of Foreign Affairs and Interior and has ordered preparations to welcome Suu Kyi but he has not yet received a schedule from her delegation. The atmosphere in Tak's border areas has become lively due to reports on Suu Kyi’s planned visit. Students and voluntary teachers at border schools in Mae Sot District were apparently happy with Suu Kyi's planned arrival as they have faith in the Myanmar pro-democracy icon. (TNA)