Brussels, 12/02/2002 (Agence Europe) - Access to the tuna and shrimp market was at the centre of talks between European Trade Commissioner, Pascal Lamy, on Monday in Brussels with his Thai counterpart, Bodharamik Adisai. Despite the two contentious areas, which have already been cited by Bangkok in a complaint to the WTO, talks were described as having been "constructive".
Mr Lamy and Mr Adisai provided an up-date on the contacts that are being established at a technical level on the methods for implementing them, as outlined in the arrangements made at Doha. It is in this context that the European Union envisaged reserving greater access for Thai and Filipino tuna to its EU markets, as a response to these two countries agreeing to the consensus required for obtaining derogation for preferential agreements with African, Caribbean and Pacific countries (ACP). Despite this promise, Thailand chose to express its grievances in Geneva, where it declared that it had been damaged by the competitive advantages provided by the Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) and particularly by the special system on drugs granted to other EU providers. The EU believes that this tactic is intended to increase the pressure on the Union in the tuna market, whereby statistics demonstrate the steady increase of Thai tuna over recent years. This will help challenge the Thai position (according to which customs duty of 12% on Thai tuna makes their product practically unaffordable compared to the zero duties enjoyed by its African competitors, shrimp and other exports to the EU will have to ride out the backlash of the special treatment reserved for less developed countries which are leading anti-drug patent campaigns (calling for a reduction in tariffs of 5% in addition to the 3.5% already conceded to the GSP system). Talks will continue under the auspices of the WTO before the possible introduction of a second stage in the disputes procedures at the WTO.