PM to push Nakhon Phanom tourism hub

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha will chair a meeting with economic ministers in Nakhon Phanom on March 27 to push ahead key development projects including a move to make the province a tourism centre in the Mekong subregion.

The meeting, which will also be attended by the state-private joint committee on economic affairs in the upper Northeast, will be held during the premier’s one-day trip to the province where he will visit Wat Phra That Phanom and Phaya Si Sattanakkharat, the new Naga statue, a serpent deity in Hindu and Buddhist mythology.

The seven-headed Naga with a height of 15 metres is made of brass. Authorities took almost five years to finish the statue, now placed by the Mekong River in Nakhon Phanom municipality.

The statue is a new landmark of Nakhon Phanom, Col Athisit Chainuwat, assistant spokesman for the Prime Minister’s Office, said yesterday.

It is also part of efforts to make the province, which borders Laos, a regional tourist hub, he added.

Gen Prayut will also visit Wat Phra That Phanom to pay respect to Buddha relics.

Authorities have been working to ask the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Culture Organisation to list the centuriesold temple as a World Heritage site, Col Athisit said.

Besides tourism development, the prime minister will also discuss plans with authorities to promote agriculture and food as well as streamline water management.