http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2010/02/usaid-mulls-over-responses/ FIRST with the FACTS on Thailand and Mekong Region TRAVEL Tue, 07 Feb 2012 12:42:00 +0000 hourly 1 http://wordpress.org/?v=3.3.1 http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/2010/02/usaid-mulls-over-responses/comment-page-1/#comment-1963 John Sat, 06 Feb 2010 02:40:26 +0000 http://www.ttrweekly.com/site/?p=11986#comment-1963 That is has taken USAID three weeks to consider responding to perfectly valid questions shows a moribund organisation not in tune with the needs of its stakeholders. Did anyone actually ask Asean if they wanted a boatload of foreign "consultants" to opine on tourism initiatives in the region? Why didn't Asean's tourism ministers know it was not going to cost them a penny? ACE is a faceless organisation. Did anyone do any due diligence on Nathan Associates? Who are they? What is their track record? Just because Asean isn't paying for this dubious pleasure, surely members are still entitled to know exactly who is behind this generosity, and what they are gaining apart from tidy expat deals at the expense of taxpayers in Idaho. That is has taken USAID three weeks to consider responding to perfectly valid questions shows a moribund organisation not in tune with the needs of its stakeholders. Did anyone actually ask Asean if they wanted a boatload of foreign “consultants” to opine on tourism initiatives in the region? Why didn’t Asean’s tourism ministers know it was not going to cost them a penny? ACE is a faceless organisation. Did anyone do any due diligence on Nathan Associates? Who are they? What is their track record? Just because Asean isn’t paying for this dubious pleasure, surely members are still entitled to know exactly who is behind this generosity, and what they are gaining apart from tidy expat deals at the expense of taxpayers in Idaho.

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