Amb Haymond was welcomed by Phuket Vice Governor Prakob Wongmaneerung, who said, “I am pleased to have the opportunity to welcome Mr Peter Haymond as the US ambassador to exchange opinions and discuss the problems in Phuket.
“The US embassy is interested in Phuket because it is a popular tourist destination. As the number of tourists coming to Phuket is high, it leads to problems with waste and waste management,” he added.
According to the report by the Phuket office of the Public Relations Department, V/Gov Prakob explained that some steps had been to mitigate the growing waste problem in Phuket.
“The Phuket Governor has assigned the relevant agencies to set the campaign to invite people to separate wet and plastic waste,” he said.
“Also, Phuket currently has a municipal wastewater system, but it does not cover all the province. We plans to solve this problem by increasing the number of sewers to cover all of Phuket,” he said.
The PR report also noted V/Gov Prakob explained that the tsunami warning system in Phuket comprises 19 warning towers linked to sensors in the sea.
“It is fully operational,” he said.
According to the PR report, Amb Haymond expressed his happiness in coming to Phuket.
“I am very happy to come to Phuket. I would like to thank Phuket Vice Governor for his time to share ideas with each other,” Amb Haymond said, according to the report.
“Every time I come to Thailand, Phuket is the first place I think about, because Phuket is famous around the world about beautiful culture and delicious food,” he added.
“And we would like to thank the Thai and Phuket governments for their support of creating a commercial environment to attract investors, IT companies and small companies from the United States,” Amb Haymond noted.
“Most of them have chosen to set up in Phuket because Phuket was regarded as Phuket's Smart City,”
“The United States is concerned about the safety of tourists and environment issues. We thank the officials of Phuket for taking care of tourists,” the PR report quoted Amb Haymond as saying.