The Cabinet on Monday resolved to send nearly four hundred Thai navy personnel to join the international naval force combating piracy and armed robbery off the coast of Somalia.
The Cabinet resolution followed the Royal Thai Navy's proposal to organise and send an anti-piracy unit with 371 Thai navy personnel to join the international operation in the Gulf of Aden, off the coast of Somalia.
The 98-day mission will begin early September with Bt270 million (US$7.7 million) budget allocated for the joint operation. The Gulf of Aden is located in the Arabian Sea between Yemen and Somalia. It connects with the Red Sea and it is part of the important Suez Canal shipping route with some 21,000 ships passing through annually.
Increasing piracy and armed robbery in the area has caused economic problems to many countries, especially those whose economies depend on maritime commerce, MCOT reported.
Thai-flagged ships have been seized by Somali pirates several times.