On 4 May 2010, the Government of Thailand approved the draft of the new
Charter of the Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), which once ratified
by nation-states and international entities will grant the
Thailand-based higher learning institute the legal status of a
full-fledged international organization.
The Cabinet resolution authorized the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to
execute the legal adoption procedure for the new AIT Charter. The
Cabinet also decided that the Minister of the Ministry of Foreign
Affairs would sign on behalf of the Royal Thai Government.
As host of the AIT headquarters, the Royal Thai Government, through its
Ministry of Foreign Affairs, together with AIT’s current partners,
agreed on the new AIT Charter, the text of which was finalized on 6
February 2009.
“The New AIT Charter is the most significant legal development for our
Institute since its founding in 1959 as the SEATO Graduate School of
Engineering and subsequent establishment as the Asian Institute of
Technology under a Royal Charter signed in 1967,” Chairman of the AIT
Board of Trustees, and former Foreign Minister of Thailand, Dr. Tej
Bunnag said.
In legal terms, since its inception AIT has been recognized as a
juristic person deemed to be domiciled in Thailand. Though considered
by the Thai government to be an independent, autonomous international
institution of higher learning, AIT was not until now an international
organization officially recognized by governments.
“The New AIT Charter will fundamentally address our legal ambiguity and
unclear ownership and enable AIT to effectively impart its regional and
global mandate to the fullest in the future,” AIT President Said
Irandoust said.
The AIT president also said: “It will also allow our Institute to be
more attuned to the changing needs of the region and dynamics of higher
learning. It will position AIT as a vital capacity building and
implementing arm for governments in the attainment of national
development goals, and of regional bodies and groupings such as ASEAN,
SAARC and other international entities such as the Asian Development
Bank and World Bank.”
With the new Charter, AIT will be a non-profit regional international
organization which is fully independent and politically neutral.
Membership in AIT will be open to all countries and international
organizations which agree with its objectives.
Further details of the decision of the Cabinet are available at
this
link.