Bangkok hopes to seal an agreement by year's end
The EU and Thailand are entering the most sensitive phase of negotiations as both sides push to conclude a free trade agreement by the end of the year.
Following the ninth negotiating round in Brussels last week – where officials worked through technical chapters before exchanging market access offers – Thailand’s Trade Representative, Werapong Prapha, spoke to Euractiv about the remaining sticking points, from agriculture to pharmaceuticals. What follows is an edited transcript.
Euractiv: You met this week with European Commissioners Maroš Šefčovič and Christophe Hansen. What was the main outcome of those discussions?
Prapha: The meetings delivered a clear political message that Thailand is back and ready to engage at the political level. Now we need the political landing to conclude the agreement. Eleven chapters have already been concluded, and we are now in the more technical nitty-gritty aspect of the negotiation. There are some politically sensitive issues, including geographical indications, or government procurement, SPS [sanitary and phytosanitary measures], agricultural market access, in which the EU has different expectations than Thailand. After the ninth round, we are entering the zone of the difficult conversations.
