Organized by:
International Development Economics Associates (IDEAs)
(http://www.networkideas.org)
The Good Governance for Social Development and the
Environmental Institute
(GSEI), Bangkok
Thailand Research Fund (TRF), Bangkok
Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University,
Bangkok
WWF-Thailand
The
2nd Workshop on 'ASEAN Expert Collaboration
for FTA Negotiations with the United States' was held
in Bangkok during 3-4 August, 2006, against the backdrop
of Thailand's proposed bilateral free trade agreement
(FTA) with the US. This was the second in a series
meant to provide a cooperative forum for strengthening
the analytical capacity of ASEAN academics in FTA
negotiations with the US, and also to provide research
inputs for presenting alternative proposals before
the Thai government negotiating team.
The focus of this workshop was to draw the interlinkages
between the issues of investment, intellectual property
and trade in goods and services, and the Environment
Chapter in the proposed FTA. The brainstorming sessions
of the first one and a half days sought to throw light
on various issues of dominating concern in the standard
US FTA model such as broad definitions of investment,
indirect or creeping appropriation and compensation,
investor-state dispute settlement, the non-transparent
and non-democratic nature of the negotiations, TRIPS-Plus
agenda, etc. These sessions centred on the following
two papers that were presented for in-depth discussions:
-
Fair Legal Model of Environment Chapter in the Proposed
Thai-US FTA By Kengkran Louvirojanakul; and
-
Investment Chapter of Thailand-US FTA in Environmental
Context by Lawan Tanadsillapakul
The
Thai speakers at the Workshop were Dr. Suthawan Sathirathai
(President GSEI), Prof. Lawan Tanadsillapakul (Faculty
of Law, Sukothaithammathirat University, Thailand),
Dr. Kengkran Louvirojanakul (Legal Affairs Division,
Department of Treaties and legal Affairs, Ministry
of Foreign Affairs, Thailand), Prof. Suchata Jinachitra
(Assistant, Director, Thailand Research Fund), Dr.
Jade Donavanik (Dean, Faculty of Law, Siam University),
Prof. Sitanon Jesdapipat (Thailand Country Director,
WWF) and Prof. Surichai Wun Gaeo (Deputy Director,
Institute of Asian Studies, Chulalongkorn University).
The international participants were Prof. Jayati Ghosh
(IDEAs, New Delhi), Prof. Alicia Puyana (Mexico),
Dr. Esteban Perez Caldentey (Subregional Headquarters
for the Caribbean, UNECLAC, Trinidad & Tobago),
Dr. Parthapratim Pal (The Energy Research Institute,
New Delhi), Dr. Rodrigo Pizzaro G. (Executive Director,
Terram, Chile), Dr. Murali Kallummal (Centre for WTO
Studies, IIFT, New Delhi), Ms. Esther Ong (Third World
Network, Malaysia), Dr. Smitha Francis (IDEAs, New
Delhi), and Ms. Hira Jhamtani (Third World Network,
Indonesia).
The public forum on the afternoon of 4th, ''Lessons
Learned from US FTAs: Can We Create Fair and Responsible
Trade?'' was specifically meant to highlight the issues
of concern and draw lessons from existing US FTAs
and to challenge the promise of market access gains
to Thailand under the bilateral FTA. Clear cut empirical
evidence emerged in the case NAFTA (the North American
Free Trade Agreement), the Chilean bilateral FTA with
the US as well as the CAFTA-DR (Central America and
the Dominican Republic Free Trade Agreement-) FTA
that market access gains in the US would prove the
most elusive or just short-term, and that US FTAs
takes away most of its FTA partners' sovereign right
in public policy making and harm their productive
sectors as well. The papers presented at the forum
included:
-
The U.S.-Central America-Dominican Republic Free
Trade Agreement (CAFTA)
Issues, Implications and Lessons for the Smaller
Economies of Latin America and the Caribbean by
Esteban Pérez Caldentey
-
IPR Chapter: Impact on the Environment by Hira Jhamtani
-
The North American Free Trade Agreement and the
Mexican Economy: Lessons to be Learned from Ten
Years of North South Economic Integration by Alicia
Puyana
-
The Free Trade Agreement beween the USA and Chile:
An instrument of US Comercial Interests by Rodrigo
Pizarro
-
US Bilateralism in South East Asia: A Sectoral Analysis
of Market Access Issues in the Proposed Thai-US
Free Trade Agreement by Smitha Francis and Murali
Kallummal
-
US-Thailand Free Trade Agreement: Market Access
Issues by Parthapratim Pal and Jayati Ghosh
August 21,
2006. |