JTEPA news

AFP reports on Japan's Free Trade Agreement with Thailand:

Under the agreement, Japan and Thailand will lift tariffs on 90 percent of trade in 10 years and Bangkok has vowed to step up transparency and legal protections to help Japanese investors.

But anti-globalisation activists (...) have lashed out against the deal. The activists say the deal will turn Thailand into a dumping ground, with Japan allowed to send toxic waste and to patent genetically modified micro-organisms in Thailand.

Japan prefers to call its FTAs "Economic Partnership Agreements". That Thailand will "become a dumping ground for Japan's toxic waste" is a claim that several NGOs have put forward over the past months. Bangkok Post has more details about an annex to the deal, that seeks to eliminate such concerns.

Bangkok Post: Japan FTA will liberalise 90 pct of bilateral trade

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.