EU trade boss visit SE Asia, misses WTO farm deadline
EU trade boss visit SE Asia, misses WTO farm deadline deadline
Agence France-Presse, Bangkok
EU Trade Commissioner Pascal Lamy on Monday began a three-nation tour of Southeast Asia in major agricultural exporter Thailand, as the World Trade Organization was set to miss a key deadline on negotiations for farm reform.
Lamy met with Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra here before sitting down for talks with Commerce Minister Adisai Bhotharamik.
"Talks should focus on negotiations within the framework of the WTO and EU-Thai bilateral trade relations," EU press and information officer Steve Needham said ahead of the meeting with Thaksin.
The talks at Government House were closed to the media, and Lamy was due to hold a press conference Tuesday.
Lamy's trip coincided with the March 31 deadline set for diplomats to reach agreement on the guidelines and targets for their negotiations on reducing farming subsidies and tariffs.
The 145 WTO members heard Friday from the agriculture talks' chairman, Stuart Harbinson, that the deadline for establishing modalities for their negotiations would not be met.
Thailand, the world's leading rice exporter, is a strong advocate of liberalized agricultural trade, while the European Union has been described as one of the main obstacles to reforms.
"The agriculture negotiations of course are of great importance to the countries of this region," Needham said.
Farm reform talks are considered key to the WTO's overall Doha Development round of trade liberalization talks.
Brussels has been pushing for "non-trade concerns" to be taken more into account in the talks.
Thailand has expressed its disappointment at the passing of the deadline, and warned in local news reports that WTO issues may be placed on the back burner due to preoccupation with the U.S.-led war in Iraq.
But WTO chief Supachai Panitchpakdi, who is Thai, said Friday that the Doha round could be completed on schedule at the end of 2004 despite several missed deadlines.
Lamy was also due to deliver a keynote address an EU-Thai relations and present Europe's new strategy for Southeast Asia.
On Tuesday Lamy heads to Malaysia to meet acting prime minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi.
From Thursday to Saturday the commissioner will be in Laos for a meeting of economy and trade ministers of the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Germany's economics and labor minister Wolfgang Clement was also in Thailand Monday, and urged ASEAN countries to speed up economic integration to boost their overall trade and investment.
He said German and foreign regional investment hinged on economic integration among countries in Southeast Asia.
"We would like to see integration in ASEAN make progress, whether as a free trade zone or an investment zone. Many German investors and other foreign investors are waiting for this to come about," Clement said.