21-Jun-2005
After letting health advocates air their opposition to the Thai-US free trade agreement (FTA) for more than a year, the Public Health Ministry yesterday unveiled its position on how Thailand should deal with drug patents.
20-Jun-2005
Prospects for Japan signing free-trade agreements (FTAs) with Thailand and South Korea are being stymied because the countries remain seriously divided on issues concerning key industrial and farm sectors, diplomatic sources have said.
20-Jun-2005
17 NGOs from Switzerland, Norway and Liechtenstein submitted today a request to the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to health. They urge him to warn the four member states of the European Free Trade Association (EFTA: Switzerland, Norway, Iceland and Liechtenstein) not to restrict access to affordable generic medicines in Thailand.
17-Jun-2005
The Ministry of Industry said on Thursday it is confident that the conclusion of the Thailand-Japan free trade area (FTA) agreement will be reached on schedule in July after representatives of the two countries met this week to discuss the details of the plan, especially on issue of automobile and electronic parts.
17-Jun-2005
Doctors have been warned not to fall into the fierce marketing trap of multinational drug companies which have a ’’hidden agenda’’ to sell expensive products.
12-Jun-2005
Businesses such as cars, steel, textiles and telecoms may grab the headlines in the continuing debate over free trade area (FTA) agreements, but members of many professions in Thailand are also preparing for changes once markets for their services open.
11-Jun-2005
Bangkok Post
Farm advocates, intellectual property rights experts and farmers groups yesterday called on the government to postpone the upcoming round of free trade negotiations with the United States that would focus on intellectual property rights (IP) to avoid the impact on farmers.
10-Jun-2005
The US still hopes to conclude a long-awaited U.S.-Thailand free trade agreement despite a number of unsettled issues, including the liberalization of the Thai financial sector, US Ambassador to Thailand Ralph Boyce said Friday.
7-Jun-2005
Fearing a further surge in imports from Thailand under the Indo-Thai free trade agreement (FTA), India Inc has brought into sharp focus the urgent need to look internally and address the disabilities suffered by Indian companies in terms of high cost of production, higher import duties, infrastructure service cost and huge interest rate differential compared with the neighbouring country.
4-Jun-2005
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra stressed speeding up the process of finalising the Free Trade Area agreement between Thailand and India during his one-day working visit to the Indian capital on Friday.
2-Jun-2005
India Daily
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra will arrive in India Friday on a one-day visit to find ways of pushing a free trade deal that will strengthen the growing trade relations between the two countries.
30-May-2005
Bangkok Post
Financial-sector liberalisation could undermine efforts to negotiate a Thailand-US free-trade area agreement, according to Finance Ministry officials.
30-May-2005
MCOT
Local operators in the financial sector have voiced opposition to the financial liberalization between the United States and Thailand, saying that they would be put at disadvantage since the US financial services are more advanced than Thailand’s.
13-May-2005
The recently concluded round of US-Thai FTA negotiations brought little contentment for the Thais, especially those with direct interests in maintaining the existing degree of intellectual property right (IPR) protection already in place.
11-May-2005
Bangkok Post
Thailand’s Senate Committee on Foreign Affairs yesterday urged labour unions across the country to take a stand against the Thai-Japanese free trade area (FTA) ahead of a new round of talks in July.
11-May-2005
Daily Times
Thailand on Monday became the first non-Muslim country to support Pakistan’s bid to become a full dialogue partner of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) and agreed to start talks on a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the South Asian country.
11-May-2005
Bangkok Post
Thailand and Pakistan have agreed in principle to draw up a free trade area (FTA) agreement under the Economic Comprehensive Partnership between the two nations.
9-May-2005
Free trade area agreements made between Thailand and some foreign trade partners have caused a lot of concern and unhappiness among farmers and business operators.
7-May-2005
Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra yesterday took local industrialists to task for criticising the government’s efforts to forge a free trade area (FTA) agreement with Japan, even as negotiators on both sides continued working to close a deal.
6-May-2005
Bangkok Post
The Thai government must become more efficient and enact more ironclad laws in order to avoid unnecessary legal disputes with US investors once the Thailand-US free trade area (FTA) agreement takes effect, says a local researcher.