Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's role at the 10th Asia-Europe Meeting (Asem) in Milan, Italy, helped improve Thailand's image in the eyes of the world, according to the result of a Master Poll survey published on Sunday.
Master Poll, commissioned by the Thai Researchers in Community Happiness Association (TRICHA), was conducted on core leaders of 608 communities throughout the country on Oct 17-18 to gauge their opinion of Gen Prayut's role at the 10th Asem held last week in Italy.
A majority, or 70.4%, of the respondents said Thailand's image in the eyes of the world community had improved after Gen Prayut's presence at Asem, 27.2% believed it was as good as before, 2.2% said it was as bad as before, and 0.2% said it had even become worse.
According to the poll, support from community leaders for the National Council for Peace and Order (NCPO) and government after the PM's Asem trip had increased to 93.3%, up from 89% in early October and 77.2% in late September.
Asked in what fields they wanted Thailand and other Asem members to jointly invest in, 75.5% of the respondents wanted to see investment on education, 57.5% on technology, 50.5% on energy, 47.8% on human resources development, 46.5% on health, 42.1% on natural resources and 38.4% on food.
Asked what problems they wanted Asem member countries to pursue after the meeting, 71.4% mentioned drugs, 64.6% trade cooperation, 62.7% public health and epidemics, 54.8% transnational crime, 44.4% human rights, 40.2% human trafficking and migrant labour, 37.6% refugees, 35.4% border disputes and 27.2% cultural exchanges.