[Thailand] U.S. seek to conclude Thai trade talks

From Monsters and Critics

By Donna Borak

Despite thousands of farmers and AIDS groups protesting in Chiang Mai, Thailand, site of the sixth round of the U.S.-Thailand free-trade talks, the United States said it was still optimistic about concluding a trade deal in the next several months.

'We`re still proceeding and so are the Thais,' Christin Baker, spokeswoman for U.S. Trade Representative Rob Portman, said Wednesday. 'This is a key week for them. They`re hoping to make sufficient progress to be able to finish in the spring.'

Demonstrators have been aiming to disrupt talks this week if their demands are not heard. Negotiations that began Tuesday are expected to end Friday.

Protesters in the northern city of Chiang Mai pushed through a police barricade outside a hotel Wednesday where U.S. and Thai negotiators have been trying to hammer out a deal, according to local media reports.

Farmers and AIDS patients have been protesting the free-trade deal because they believe it will dissolve national sovereignty, and cause higher product prices and access to generic drugs.

There ere more than 700,000 people living with HIV/AIDS in Thailand, according to the Thai Working Group of HIV/AIDS. The Thai government provides anti-retroviral drugs to about 10 percent -- or 70,000 people living with AIDS -- and is working to expand its current treatment program.

Opponents of the trade deal argue, however, that if an intellectual property agreement is agreed upon it will prevent Thailand from creating its own inventions and technologies and could potentially end the government`s universal health-care program.

The United States has been accused by Thai-based activist group FTA Watch and Oxfam International for pushing a proposal to dramatically increase intellectual property protections for pharmaceutical products, including life-saving drugs for HIV/AIDS.

'We`ve had a long-standing invitation with them to sit down and discuss their concerns and clear up misunderstanding about our efforts,' said Baker. 'Our objective is to promote the development of new drugs, while also making sure there is access to medicines for those with HIV/AIDS and other patients, and that they`ll continue to get the most effective medicines. But the FTA will not increase the price of generic and innovative drugs.'

Oxfam called on U.S. negotiators earlier this week to allow Thailand to be able to have access to cheaper medicines under international laws such as the 2001 World Trade Organization Doha Declaration on the TRIPS Agreement and Public Health by the U.N. Commission on Human Rights.

According to Oxfam, U.S. free-trade agreements have been know to extend patents beyond 20 years to compensate for administrative delays and easing standards of patentability on new formulations, which extend monopoly pricing. Previous FTAs have also been known to restrict imports of cheaper medicines by contractually limiting patent-holders` rights to export or import previously sold products.

Thai negotiators suggested this week they would not accept a deal that would be harmful to citizens.

'I will protect the Thai people`s ability to access medicines until the end,' said Nit Phibunsongkhram, head of Thailand`s negotiation team. 'In the recent meetings the U.S. has yet to talk about this important issue, because they know about Thai people`s resistance; thus I would like to thank the public sector on this issue.'

The United States wants to iron out outstanding issues of intellectual property and investment, two areas that will need to be addressed before a free-trade deal can be concluded.

'These issues are very significant to the U.S., so much so that if Thailand avoids discussing these issues, there might not be an FTA between the two countries at all,' warned Nit.

While the United States and Thailand launched free-trade negotiations in July 2004, the United States is already Thailand`s second-largest source of imports, with U.S. exports to Thailand totaling $6.4 billion in 2004.

The free-trade deal is expected to be beneficial to U.S. agricultural producers. The United States is the lead supplier to Thailand for agricultural products, selling cotton, wheat, soybean meal, hides and skins, prepared animal feed, dairy products, such as beef and pork, to this major market for U.S. farmer and ranchers.

Two-way trade between the United States and Thailand was $24 billion in 2004, an increase of 11 percent from the previous year, with U.S. exports totaling $6.4 billion and Thai exports totaling $17.6 billion.