Secret talks have been held with six insurgent groups operating in the southern border provinces, and some progress has been made, the secretary of the government delegation Maj Gen Nakrob Boonbuathong said on Thursday.
Maj Gen Nakrop said the government team, headed by Gen Aksara Kerdpol, the army's advisory chairman, had met with representatives of six insurgent groups - the Barisan Revolusi Nasional (BRN), three factions of the Pattani United Liberation Organisation (Pulo), the Barisan Islam Pembebasan Patan (BIPP), and the Gerakan Mujahidin Patani (GMP).
He said it was Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha's policy that the government delegation meet with all groups, not only the BRN.
The past two meetings in Malaysia, facilitated by Malaysian authorities, were informal, mainly for the representatives of the two sides to introduce themselves. Neither side had put forward their proposals.
Maj Gen Nakrob said the BRN did not send Hassan Taib to represent it this time, as he had before. They instead sent a team of negotiators. It was agreed that their identities would not be disclosed at this time, he said. However they were mostly old faces from Hassan Taib's team.
"We are still in the introductory stage, so the two sides can get to know each other and establish mutual trust. There were no exchanges of proposals, but there are preparations for further official talks," he said.
The Thai delegation and the insurgent groups had not come to an agreement on a ceasefire during the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan, he said.
"Since they will be engaged in religious activities during this period, it was agreed that there would be another meeting after Ramadan," Maj Gen Nakrob said.
It was still not known when there would be official talks, things were being taken step by step. "The official talks are being preceded by unofficial ones -- secretly," he added.
"Please be assured that the peace delegation has continued to coordinate with Malaysia, the facilitator, and representatives of the insurgent groups.
"We don't want the media to present news on peace talks based on speculation, because doing so would only cause confusion and might affect the talks. We are now in the stage of building trust," said Maj Gen Nakrob.