Ms. Grainne Ryder
Mekong Program Director
Probe International
225 Brunswick Avenue
Toronto, Ontario M5S 2M6

Dear Ms. Ryder:

As Minister for International Cooperation, I am pleased to respond to your letter of February 24, 1999, to the Honourable Lloyd Axworthy, Minister of Foreign Affairs, concerning the Human Resources Development Policy and Institutional Linkages project in Thailand, and in particular the Thai-Canadian Nuclear Human Resources Development Linkage sub-project. I also appreciate receiving a copy of the article of Supara Janchitfah as well as the briefing on Canada’s experience with nuclear power, prepared by Probe International.

As you are aware, the Thai-Canadian sub-project was approved in June 1994 and completed in March 1997. This was a partnership that involved several Canadian and Thai partners both from the public, private sectors and academic. The lead institutions were Atomic Energy of Canada Limited (AECL) and Chulalongkhorn University in Thailand. The principal goal was to help develop the engineering and scientific expertise needed for Thailand to decide whether and how the country could best benefit from the establishment of a nuclear power program. The objective included assistance to the Government of Thailand in the evaluation of the involved nuclear option for electricity generation as well as public education on the safe use of nuclear power.

The total value of the Canadian International Development Agency’s (CIDA) contribution was $997,550, of which $122,405 was utilized for the financing of the Public Education Program within the AECL-Chulalongkhorn Linkage Project. Within this sub-project the funds covered the costs of a Canadian expert to work with a member of the Chulalongkhorn faculty on the preparation of materials for the Public Education Program.

In my view, this Public Education Program is not the type of initiative that CIDA should be supporting. The Agency is not currently contributing to any projects of this nature, nor does it plan to in the future.

I hope that the foregoing information addresses your concerns about this sub-project. Thank you for taking the time to write.

Yours sincerely,