The International Navy Fleet Show featuring military vessels from Thailand’s Southeast Asian neighbors will be held at Bali Hai Pier Nov. 13-22, 2017.
Acting Mayor Chanapong Sriviset announced firm plans for the exhibition with Rear Adm. Yongyuth Promphomraj, assistant chief of staff to the Royal Thai Navy’s commander in chief, at a Nov. 25 meeting at city hall.
The navy plans to invite 55 foreign navies to bring their warships to Pattaya Bay and Sattahip, including the other nine Association of Southeast Asian Nations members and countries around the world.
The show also will serve as a venue to host the 11th ASEAN Navy Chief’s Meeting and the first-ever ASEAN Multilateral Naval Exercise (AMNEX).
The event will also see a full fleet review, naval exhibitions and academic seminars. For tourists, there will be practice drills, ship tours and parades to observe.
Yongyuth said the fleet show will support Thailand’s government efforts to bolster the three pillars of the ASEAN Economic Community: politics and stability, economics, and society and culture.
Moreover, it will promote good relationships between members of ASEAN, focusing on cooperation in peace promotion and stability in the region through promotion of economics and tourism.
The show has been on the military’s wish list for ages, but never caught the interest of any elected, civilian government.
In a January presentation to the former elected Pattaya City Council, Adm. Poldej Charoenpol, a special advisor to the Sattahip Naval Base, claimed the show would draw tourists to Pattaya and allow foreign countries to showcase their naval capabilities and promote their countries.
But elected leaders proved cool to the idea and did not propose any funding.
Once the politicians left office in June, the navy tried again with the new council.
Yet even Chanapong expressed reservations in September, saying Bali Hai is too dilapidated to host such an event and money to upgrade it has not been allocated.
The acting mayor also balked at a request for an unspecified amount in funding by the navy admiral appointed to Pattaya City Council for a new two-story building at the pier to serve as a coordination center for marine traffic management.
Chanapong asserted that the existing structure at the pier was sufficient to manage current traffic and no new technology has been added that would require a new building.
However, the military also appears to have gotten its way on the new building, with plans for it mentioned during a Nov. 22 meeting on Phase 2 of Bali Hai’s development.
