Japan FTA will liberalise 90 pct of bilateral trade

Tokyo (Agencies)

Japan and Thailand have signed an historic free trade pact. Visiting Thai Prime Minister Surayud Chulanont hailed the Economic Partnership Agreement as one that "will establish the foundations for a new era of intensified and sustainable friendship and partnership between our two peoples."

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe and Gen Surayud are to sign the EPA free-trade agreement Tuesday evening, a deal that will eliminate tariffs on more than 90 per cent of bilateral trade within 10 years.

With the envisaged trade liberalisation as its core, the accord also seeks to improve the investment climate in Thailand for Japanese manufacturers and to mutually accept the results of the safety and other specification assessments of electrical appliances for easier trade procedures.

Japan hopes the agreement will come into effect in fiscal 2008 after receiving approval from the Diet, a Japanese trade ministry official said. The Thai parliament has already endorsed the pact.

The two nations agreed on terms of the accord in September 2005 and were scheduled to ink the deal in 2006. But a bloodless coup in Thailand last September led to postponement of the signing until Tuesday.

Continued below

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

reports:

In Bangkok on Tuesday, opponents of the agreement criticised the government for not making its terms public.

Some 50 demonstrators gathered Tuesday in front of the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok and burned a copy of the accord to protest the signing of JTEPA.

They also demanded that National Legislative Assembly (NLA) members submit a request for the Constitution Tribunal to invalidate the pact.

Besides burning the 942 page text, the demonstrators read an open letter signed by representatives of the five participating groups -- the FTA Watch Group, the Alternative Agriculture Network, the AIDS Patient Network, the Consumers Network and the Slum Dwellers Network.

Saree Ongsomwang, manager of the Foundation for Consumers, said that her organisation and the alliance would like to urge at least 20 NLA members to sign a petition and submit it for the consideration of the Constitution Tribunal.

xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx

New report resumes:

Under the free trade deal, Japan will knock down 92 per cent of tariffs on imports from Thailand -- including some agricultural products -- in value terms over 10 years.

Similarly, 97 per cent of Japanese exports to Thailand will become duty-free over the same period.

Japan will immediately remove tariffs on almost all industrial products from Thailand.

Thailand will do away with tariffs on Japanese auto parts --except five engine and engine part items -- in the first five years since the accord takes effect. Tariffs on the five items will be removed two years later.

Thailand will cut tariffs on Japanese automobiles with an engine displacement of 3000 cc or larger to 60 per cent from the current 80 per cent in the first four years. The two sides will hold talks again in 2009 on possible tariff elimination for those vehicles in the mid-2010s.

Tokyo and Bangkok will resume negotiations on tariff cuts for Japanese vehicles with engines of up to 3000 cc five years after the imposition of the pact.

Thailand will immediately scrap tariffs on about half of all Japanese steel imports. Bangkok will knock down tariffs on the remainder, such as hot-rolled plates, within 10 years.

Among farm products, Japan will slash tariffs on Thai boneless chicken to 8.5 per cent from the current 11.9 per cent over five years. Japan will also halve tariffs on cooked chicken from the current 6.0 per cent over the same period.

Tokyo will immediately eliminate tariffs on processed shrimp and tropical fruit such as mango, papaya and durian.

Thailand, meanwhile, will do away with tariffs on Japanese apples, pears and yam, either immediately or in a few years.

The two nations had agreed to exclude sensitive agricultural products for Japan, such as rice, wheat and dairy products, from the bilateral trade liberalisation talks, according to a Japanese Foreign Ministry official.

Thailand also requested that items such as raw silk and tobacco not be subject to tariff cuts as well, the official said.

The pact also calls on the two countries to promote cooperation in broader fields.

Japan will allow more state-qualified Thai cooks to work in Japan by shortening the required minimum work experience of 10 years to five years.

Japan and Thailand will continue talks on the possibility of allowing Thai spa therapists and nursing and welfare service providers to operate in Japan.

The signing of the economic partnership accord with Thailand is the sixth of its kind for Japan, after last week's with Chile.

In 2006, Japanese exports to Thailand grew 7.5 per cent from the previous year to 2.66 trillion yen, the sixth biggest in the world. Japan's imports from Thailand rose 14.3 per cent to 1.96 trillion yen, the 10th biggest, according to Japanese Finance Ministry data.

Bangkok Post
Tuesday April 03, 2007