Negotiations for a bilateral free-trade agreement between Thailand and the European Union could be difficult to start in the near future as the EU insists on covering all areas of trade, while Thailand wants alcohol and tobacco excluded from the talks.

The commerce ministry yesterday announced that it would conduct a public hearing whether to include alcohol and tobacco in the Thai-EU FTA talks. Sanya Sathiraboot, adviser to the deputy commerce minister, said that liberalisation of alcohol and tobacco is of concern to many parties and people. The hearing will help weigh the benefits and loss to the country from including the products in the free-trade negotiation. "Some groups are highly concerned about the impact of the liberalisation. However, some groups of enterprises are also concerned that blocking EU products will benefit only some domestic producers. Therefore, we need to mobilise opinions from all parties to evaluate Thai business competitiveness after the liberalisation, and the health impacts," said Sanya.
Sanya said the government does not aim to protect any particular local alcohol or tobacco producer. However, since the inclusion of alcohol and tobacco involved Thai people's health, the government must carefully weigh the impact of the liberalisation. If alcohol and tobacco are excluded under the FTA, the government may have to find other measures to fairly treat local producers and import alcohol and tobacco. The finance ministry may have to consider increasing excise tax so that it will be fair to all traders, he said. (sra)