Mr Abhisit also reaffirmed his commitment to stimulate the sluggish economy. -- PHOTO: ASSOCIATED PRESS
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S new premier Abhisit Vejjajiva on Wednesday promised to appoint a competent cabinet to lead the country out of crisis following months of protests.
BANGKOK - THAILAND'S newly elected Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva said on Wednesday he was sorry for the damage done to the country by the week-long occupation of Bangkok's two airports.
Thousands of protesters trying to oust the previous elected government sealed off the capital's international and domestic airports late last month, stranding up to 350,000 passengers and causing massive economic damage.
Mr Abhisit, who ended his Democrat Party's eight years in opposition with his appointment by parliament on Monday, also reaffirmed his commitment to stimulate the sluggish economy.
'I will do my best to put the right man on the right job,' the 44-year-old Oxford University economics graduate told reporters.
'I want to reassure everyone that I will choose competent people to implement policies that are crucial to revive our country,' he added.
Mr Abhisit was scheduled to meet economic interest groups on Wednesday, including farmers and tourism industry representatives, as hundreds of police continue to guard against protests by supporters of the old government.
His party won over enough lawmakers in a parliamentary vote to form a ruling coalition on Monday, two weeks after a court dissolved the ruling party loyal to ousted and now exiled premier Thaksin Shinawatra.
Mr Abhisit has said the cabinet posts would be divided between the Democrats and their smaller coalition partners, whose defection from the now-defunct People Power Party gave Mr Abhisit his slim majority.
The British-born premier, a former economics lecturer, is to be given his official decree to govern by Thailand's widely revered king later Wednesday.
Monday's vote followed six months of disruptive and at times bloody protests by the royalist, anti-Thaksin People's Alliance for Democracy (PAD), peaking with the siege of Bangkok's two airports late last month. -- AFP
