Inter Press Service - August 3, 2004
Marwaan Macan-Markar

This appeal, which has voices ranging from academics, activists and grassroots groups behind it, is part of a sustained campaign that has been underway here to oppose Bangkok's desire to sign free trade agreements (FTS) with a host of countries.

Some Thai economists are already predicting that the weekend breakthrough at the WTO would make it difficult for the government of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra to justify its push for bi-lateral trade deals in the new global trading climate.

The WTO's 147-member General Council adopted over the weekend, in Geneva, an agreement that aims to cut subsidies to farmers in wealthy countries and bring down barriers to the multi-billion-dollar agricultural trade.

Two weeks of talks ended with a pact pledging "substantial reductions" in the tariffs and subsidies by which Europe, the United States and Japan have distorted markets for agricultural exporting nations.

"What happened at the WTO was an important milestone for the further progress of multilateralism," Sompop Manarang, professor of international economics at Bangkok's Chulalongkorn University, told IPS.

"The Thai government will have to reconsider its stress on bi-lateral trade negotiations," he added. "It will be difficult for the government to praise the FTA over the WTO deal, because it is important for Thailand to pay attention to the bigger global trade platform."

In an effort to drive home that message, a Thai anti-FTA activist has already begun laying the groundwork for a campaign, which will include public meetings.

"We are going to pressure the government to stop FTA negotiations and to pay more attention and set aside resources towards the outcomes through the WTO," Witoon Lianchumroon, coordinator of FTA Watch, told IPS.

FTA Watch is an umbrella organisation that has under its span a broad spectrum of academics, farmers, grassroots groups, labour rights activists, consumer advocates and public health lobbies.

Witooon admits, though, that it will not be easy, given the stance the Thaksin administration has taken towards FTAs, often praising them as a quicker and far easier mechanism to strengthen international trade than the WTO process.

The government's reaction to the deal struck at the WTO reflects this.

"The Thai government congratulates the WTO in this minor triumph, but it is equally important for Thailand to pursue other options to strengthen its economy, such as bilateral trade deals," Jakrapob Penkair, government spokesman, told IPS.

"Any two countries that want to go ahead with their own free trade agreement should go ahead with it," he added.

Currently, the Thaksin administration has begun a negotiating a FTA with the United States, a process due to last till 2005.

Among the areas that worry the critics of the U.S.-Thai FTA are the prospect of U.S. agribusiness giants receiving the nod to flood Thailand with genetically modified organisms, currently banned in the country's agricultural sector.

Also worrying is Thailand's ability to produce cheap generic drugs, including anti-AIDS drugs for people with HIV, being threatened by new trade regulations under the FTA that prohibits Bangkok from endorsing generic drug production of new drugs.

Thailand is currently the 18th largest trading partner of the United States, with the value of two-way trade between the two countries exceeding 21 billion U.S. dollars in 2003.

Thailand has already signed FTAs with China and Australia and just initiated FTA talks with India. Bangkok has identified at least eight countries to strike bilateral free trade deals with, but there are signs that the list could get longer.

Fair trade from agriculture was a key issue around which developing countries rallied in Geneva.

In 2003, failure to achieve concessions from the powerful economies of the developed world led to the collapse of the WTO ministerial conference in Cancun, Mexico.

The current round of trade talks involving the 147 countries that are members of the WTO have been billed as the 'development round.'

The negotiations began at the WTO ministerial meeting in Doha, Qatar, in 2001, with the aims of addressing the problems faced by the developing world under the global trade agenda.

However, according to Aileen Kwa, a policy analyst with Focus on the Global South, a Bangkok-based think tank, the WTO's deal to eliminate agriculture export subsidies offers little to celebrate.

"It is just a structure without any numbers in the framework, no timelines," she explained in an interview. "It offers very little to the developing world."

But Thai officials think otherwise.

"This is good news for us. Otherwise, the WTO process to cut farm subsidies would be stalled for a long time," Aoradi Tantraporn, director-general of the department of trade negotiations, was quoted in Tuesday's 'The Nation' newspaper.

040803
IP040803

AEGiS presents published material, reprinted with permission and neither endorses nor opposes any material. All information contained on this website, including information relating to health conditions, products, and treatments, is for informational purposes only. It is often presented in summary or aggregate form. It is not meant to be a substitute for the advice provided by your own physician or other medical professionals. Always discuss treatment options with a doctor who specializes in treating HIV.

Copyright ©1980, 2004. AEGiS. All materials appearing on AEGiS are protected by copyright as a collective work or compilation under U.S. copyright and other laws and are the property of AEGiS, or the party credited as the provider of the content. .