It remains unclear whether Facebook co-founder and major shareholder Mark Zuckerberg will meet with Prime Minister General Prayut Chan-o-cha in Thailand later this month.
PM Prayut yesterday remained silent over the report. The premier cancelled a planned media session, which was expected to discuss the Zuckerberg meeting, after yesterday morning’s meeting of the provincial administration policy committee at Government House.
Meanwhile, Deputy PM Somkid Jatusripitak, who was the first person to reveal the proposed meeting between Prayut and Zuckerberg, called in sick yesterday and did not attend the meeting at Government House. Somkid on Tuesday was quoted by Matichon newspaper as saying that Zuckerberg will meet Prayut on October 30.
He said the visit would underline Facebook’s business interest in the Kingdom’s huge data centre and in online connectivity.
His disclosure was followed by Prayut’s comment on Tuesday that he expected to meet Zuckerberg for discussions on a range of topics, including transnational crime.
One day after Thai media ran the news, Facebook issued a statement saying, “There are no plans currently for any of our senior leaders to visit Thailand”.
The Nation contacted Facebook’s public relations staff in Thailand yesterday and they repeated the same statement.
