ISDS Case Map
Thailand
While the main
US goal on agriculture in many FTA
negotiations often is to secure non-SPS
related concessions such as lower tariffs,
the foreign partners often see the FTA as
an opportunity to resolve outstanding
SPS issues with the US as well as seek
accelerated new market access to the US
for their animal and plant products.
Japan is proving a tough negotiator for countries with their hopes pinned on FTAs.
Thailand's leading agricultural activist network has urged Thais not to vote for political parties which back free trade agreements and genetically modified (GM) crops research at next February's general election.
In Thailand, the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) debates were heated. Farmers and critics claim that Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra's government sold out small farmers to their own big business interests. They took to the streets in protest while Thaksin lambasted them and obscured negotiation details.
Debate has begun in the Senate on laws enabling the Thailand-Australia Free Trade Agreement to take effect from next year.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra and his visiting Singapore counterpart Lee Hsian Loong have shared the same view that the planned ASEAN trade liberalization should be implemented and achieved earlier than originally set in 2020, according to Government Spokesman Chakraphob Penkair.
Special report by Rabobank - PDF file
Trade negotiators from Japan and Thailand resumed free-trade talks Monday after Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra decided to withdraw rice from the negotiating table.
Chicken farmers from Japan have descended on Bangkok this week to lobby for the withdrawal of poultry products from free-trade talks, following the success of Japanese farmers in getting Thailand to drop rice.
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra today reiterated the importance of Thailand forging bilateral economic relations, while pledging to ensure greater public involvement in international trade liberalization deals.
