Published on January 13, 2006

Wants rules loosened on securities, mutual funds; no commitment on time frame to end talks – Uttama

The United States has asked Thailand to accelerate the opening up of securities and mutual fund sectors from the 10 years it has currently tabled, Naris Chaiyasoot, a leader of the Thai negotiation team, said yesterday.

The US negotiators said this was too long a time and cited Singapore as having liberalised its financial market within three years of signing a free-trade agreement (FTA) with the US, he said.

“We can immediately open up some segments of securities and mutual fund businesses, but we would like to delay opening other segments in phases within 10 years,” Naris said after meeting with US officials on the issue.

At present, there are 39 brokerages and 18 mutual fund firms in the Kingdom.

Thai and US officials yesterday discussed financial service liberalisation as part of the sixth round of their FTA talks.

Naris added that the US had also asked Thailand to loosen its rule on advisory services and mutual funds in particular.

“They will take our proposal and consider it further ahead of the next round of talks in February,” he said.

The US and Thai teams are discussing the deregulation of general insurance and banking businesses.

Commenting on the unsettled issues, Naris said Thailand had to place the highest priority on economic stability. Issues include short-term fund mobilisation and non-resident baht account controls. The US has yet to make clear whether Thailand can implement these financial control measures for security purposes, he said.

Meanwhile, Vice Minister of Commerce Uttama Savanavana said: “We are not committed to any time frame for a conclusion of the FTA with the US.”

The Thai team yesterday used strong wording in its press release, saying that US proposals related to drug patents had disappointed them.

Uttama was apparently satisfied with negotiating market access for farm products as the US had promised to cut the tariff rate to zero for about 1,300 items. However, he said that the US had yet to promise to end its subsidy of rice and sugar soon, as well as its export subsidy of soybeans, corn and dairy products.

The two sides yesterday engaged in negotiations on financial services and telecommunications. Officials said the discussion focused on rules, regulations and national treatment. The two sides tried to clarify what was the coverage of national treatment, said a source.

Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said yesterday that he had to no idea about the details of the telecommunication liberalisation talks. “I don’t know the details,” he said. “I just brief them on the principles that the negotiators should be aware of.”

Asked about the opposition to FTA talks, he said: “People tend to oppose everything that I do.”

Asked if the government would allow the public to take part in the talks, Thaksin replied: “Where do they negotiate like that? If that’s true, you don’t need an election. Whatever you do, you invite all 63 million people to participate. No need to have an election or the representative system.”

US trade officials were supposed to meet today with representatives of Thai non-governmental organisations about the FTA, but there was some confusion over whether the meeting would take place.

The US side said that the NGOs had cancelled the meeting, but this was later denied by the NGOs.

“We are disappointed that the NGOs that have expressed concern about the intellectual property provisions have just decided to cancel a meeting with us that was supposed to take place tomorrow [Friday],” said Neena Moorjani, a US Trade Representative spokesperson. “The door remains open. We want to sit down with these groups and clear up the misunderstandings they have.”

Meanwhile, a small group of American activists demonstrated on Wednesday outside the US Trade Representative’s office, demanding a halt to talks for a free-trade deal between the US and Thailand.

The 30 representatives from NGos said the FTA would restrict access to medications for Thai HIV/Aids patients used to receiving cheap, locally made generic drugs.

“The big issue is that if the free-trade deal goes through, Thai HIV/Aids patients will be denied access to cheap, generic, affordable drugs as it is likely to increase the intellectual property rights of US corporate drug companies,” Matthew Kavanagh of the Student Global Aids Campaign told Agence France-Presse.

Wichit Chaitrong

The Nation

Chiang Mai

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