ISDS Case Map
Thailand
Thai farmers and small-scale manufacturers should be allowed to participate in negotiations for free trade agreements (FTAs) to ensure their survival, says a Khao Sod editorial.
Thailand, the sole Asean country yet to sign the grouping's Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with South Korea, hopes to resume negotiations with Seoul before the Asean Summit in Cebu in December.
The United States has no plans to begin new bilateral free trade negotiations with other nations, and will focus on successfully concluding the four it is actively pursuing, Washington's top trade envoy said Friday.
Thailand and South Korea failed Thursday to reach an agreement in negotiations into the issue of rice trade between the two nations, impeding the implementation of a regional trade pact between Southeast Asia and Seoul.
The controversy over the impact of bilateral trade agreements on public health poses particular difficulties for the Geneva-based WHO, which is gearing up for the highly political election of a new director-general.
Ukrit Kungsawanich, a fruit grower in Rayong, was worried when he read in the news that a US company is trying to patent a drink made with mangosteen extract.
It seems unlikely that India and Thailand would graduate to a full-fledged free trade agreement (FTA) this year despite the successful implementation of the early harvest programme. The political turmoil in Thailand leading to elections in mid-October coupled with the uncertainty in FTA talks between India and Asean has pushed the India-Thai FTA talks to the backburner.
The figures show Thais are winning with free trade - yet many of the nation's small farmers, struggling just to scrape by, are looking to lessons learned around the world.
Defending himself and his government against criticisms of free trade area (FTA) agreements Thailand negotiated with foreign countries, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Saturday said that the FTAs had helped boost trade and increase the country's exports.
Thailand is suffering a nearly Bt9 billion (about US$239.5 million) trade deficit chalked up between October last year and May this year as a result of the free trade agreements (FTAs) it has entered with China, India, Australia and New Zealand.
