In 1986, a group of American experts and rainmaking officials were granted an audience with His Majesty the King at Daksin Palace in Narathiwat Province. His Majesty stressed the importance of rainmaking development as part of the country's water resource management. Impressed by His Majesty's initiative, the experts came up with the Applied Atmospheric Resources Research Program in a joint cooperative effort between the governments of Thailand and the United States from 1988 to 1999. An essential part of the program was the transfer of US technology to the royal rainmaking operations.