BANGKOK, Sept. 6 (Xinhua) -- A trade fair featuring products from the Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat and Songkhla is being held near Bangkok, which is an attempt of Thai government to promote products from these provinces that haunted by blasts and insurgents in the past decade.
Various local products, such as Turian, Longkong, southern style clothes and even kris blade can be seen at the fair, which is held from Sept. 3 to 11 in the Nonthaburi, a province directly north to Bangkok.
There are about 80 booths in the trade fair this year, which is more than last year, said Natthapon Khumsavang, a coordinator of the fair, adding that about 4,000 to 5,000 people visited the fair in the first two days and generated about 1 million baht (28,8000 U.S. dollars) per day.
"Kris blade is hard to find here in Bangkok, so we are selling them here," said Nusbee, a kris seller from Yala province.
Nusbee said she came to Bangkok annually to sell these products, and so does Nattawong, a durian seller also from the same province.
Nattawong said that the blasts that hit the three southern-most provinces did hurt the local economy, and he hopes that peace can come to these provinces again.
The trade fair is already the ninth one of its kind, which is held by the Ministry of Agriculture and Cooperatives.
According to the Organizing Committee, the fair intended to make local products from the deep South better known and widely recognized among general public, while it is also a way to support various development projects in the southern border provinces.
The development of three southern-most provinces, namely Yala, Pattani, Narathiwat are affected by decade-long insurgency. Blasts are very common there as a blast near a school on Tuesday killed a father and his five-year old daughter in Narathiwat.
Thai prime minister Prayut Chan-o-cha made a quick trip to the deep South in July, declaring his plan of "economic triangle", which means Thailand will promote agro-industry, sustainable energy and cross-border trade with Malaysia respectively in three districts of the three southern-most provinces.
Government spokesman Sansern Kaewkamnerd said earlier progress in these fields is expected to take shape in the next six years.
According to Bangkok Post, these developing plans means that Thai government already realized that military missions alone cannot bring an end to insurgency in the region.
