11-Jan-2006
The Nation
The Thai-US free-trade talks hit a snag yesterday after the head Thai negotiator for intellectual-property rights declared demands by the US for Thailand to tighten up drug patenting as “unacceptable”.
11-Jan-2006
Thai AIDS activists and their international allies are
seeking suspension of scheduled trade talks that threaten to undermine
Thailand’s lawful ability to produce, import/export, and market low-cost
generic versions of life-saving medicines.
11-Jan-2006
Australia’s booming trade relations with Thailand are in doubt as a constitutional court challenge against the countries’ free trade pact looms in Bangkok.
11-Jan-2006
Demonstrators scuffled with police at a downtown hotel, forcing a brief halt in bargaining on the proposed Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement between Thailand and the United States, and negotiators from the two countries decided to change the venue of their meeting.
11-Jan-2006
Protesters from 11 civil society groups opposing the proposed Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement talks between Thailand and the United States forced negotiators to move out of town Wednesday. Then they called off their three-day protest.
11-Jan-2006
CPTech
Today, around 8000 people were demonstrating in Chiang Mai. A couple of people trying to enter the hotel where the US and Thai negotiating teams were meeting were beaten by the police. 30 people tried to swim across the river to reach the hotel and were beaten too.
11-Jan-2006
Bangkok Post
Negotiations on the Thai-US free trade area (FTA) pact were forced to halt briefly yesterday as protesters used any means they could to disrupt the talks.
10-Jan-2006
The Thai government will go ahead with its move to negotiate and conclude a bilateral free trade area (FTA) agreement with the United States, but will take proposed points raised by opponents of the planned Thai-US FTA into consideration, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said on Tuesday.
10-Jan-2006
Nearly 10,000 protesters yesterday broke through police barricades surrounding the Sheraton Hotel, where Thai and US negotiators were engaged in free-trade talks.
10-Jan-2006
Thai and US negotiators working on the two countries’ bilateral Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement have reached a tentative agreement on tariff cuts for over 204 categories of industrial goods, a senior Thai official announced here on Tuesday.
10-Jan-2006
Some 6,000 protesters on Tuesday broke through a barricade around the hotel where Thai and US negotiators are holding free trade talks, police said.
10-Jan-2006
Small clashes between Thai police and demonstrators on Tuesday briefly interrupted the sixth round of negotiations on the proposed Free Trade Area (FTA) agreement between Thailand and the United States which ran into the second day in Chiang Mai, in northern Thailand, reported the Thai News Agency.
10-Jan-2006
Pro-democracy groups will urge US President George W Bush to halt free-trade agreement talks with Thailand because Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has violated the Constitution by refusing to seek parliamentary approval for the deal, group leaders said yesterday.
10-Jan-2006
Bangkok Post
Over 8,000 protesters from an alliance of 11 groups opposing the Thai-US free trade area (FTA) agreement took to the streets of this northern city yesterday to demand what they termed unfair trade negotiations be scrapped.
10-Jan-2006
Bangkok Post
Thailand should think carefully about surrendering its sovereign rights under the WTO — and access to cheap medicine — in exchange for an FTA with the United States
9-Jan-2006
The government should build a financial architecture before establishing a free trade area (FTA) between Thailand and the United States, according to leading financiers.
9-Jan-2006
Deputy Prime Minister and Commerce Minister Somkid Jatusripitak has tightened his grip over the Thai-US FTA talks by assigning his right-hand man, Uttama Savanayana, to play a key role in the negotiations with the US team in Chiang Mai, a source said yesterday.
9-Jan-2006
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra reiterated on Monday that the government is ready to reveal the result of negotiations to establish a free trade area (FTA) between Thailand and the United States - in due course.
9-Jan-2006
The Nation
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra Monday shot down a proposal for Parliament to debate free trade agreements (FTAs), including a draft being negotiated between Thailand and the United States. "I see no justification for legislative debate on FTAs as Parliament does not have qualified personnel to scrutinise the matter," he said.
9-Jan-2006
Bangkok Post
Thousands of Thais representing a diverse swath of society ranging from garlic growers to HIV/AIDS activists gathered outside a hotel in Thailand’s northern city of Chiang Mai Monday to protest closed-door talks on a Thai-US free trade agreement (FTA).
