Way ready for Thailand, China to reach WTO entry deal

Asian Economic News, Jan 24, 2000

BANGKOK, Jan. 18 Kyodo

The Thai cabinet authorized trade negotiators Tuesday to conclude a bilateral trade agreement with China, which is a prerequisite for China's entry into the World Trade Organization (WTO), when negotiators of both countries meet later this month in Beijing.

The negotiators will be led by Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchpakdi who has been invited by Chinese Foreign Trade and Economic Cooperation Minister Shi Guangsheng for a three-day final round of negotiations from Thursday.

Commerce ministry officials said, however, the meetings will not take place until late this month or early February.

Supachai, also commerce minister, has cabinet approval to sign a pact with China.

Out of 106 items for negotiation, China has already agreed to lower tariffs on almost all items to levels satisfactory to Thailand.

Only 12 items, including tapioca starch, frozen shrimp, longan and pineapple, remain to be resolved, ministry officials said.

The cabinet also wants Supachai and his negotiators to persuade Beijing to provide more long-grain rice quotas for private exporters and reduce the tariff rates on rice and rubber.

Thailand has carried out talks on a bilateral trade pact with China 13 times since 1994.

China has been negotiating with 37 WTO members, but has reached bilateral pacts with only 14 of them, according to Thai commerce ministry officials.

It has reached agreements with Australia, Canada, Chile, Czech Republic, Hungary, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, New Zealand, Pakistan, Singapore, Slovak Republic, Turkey, and the United States, but still needs pacts with Thailand, Brazil, the European Union, Cuba, Mexico, Argentina, Malaysia, and the Philippines.