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Overview of the Relations between Thailand and EU
 
Introduction
Thailand has long established close relations and good cooperation with the European Union. Up to now our cooperation has broaden its scope to cover many aspects of relations and cooperations including development cooperation, economic cooperation, humanitarian aid, trade, investment, political matters and cooperation in various areas such as agriculture, health, SMEs, environment, narcotics control, etc.
Furthermore, our relationship and cooperation has not limited itself only at the bilateral level, Thailand and the European Union have also had cooperation at the regional level through ASEAN-EU, ASEM, ASEAN regional forum or ARF, and OSCE.
Politics
Thailand and the EU have had the extensive and frank discussion on the political issues in various fora. Thailand has no so-called "sensitive issues" which it would like to refrain from discussing. We respect the EU's policies towards political issues relating to Southeast Asia including Myanmar, humanitarian assistance and refugees. Meanwhile, we believe that the EU will in turn respect Thailand's approach towards these same issues. However, since the past few years, the increasing convergence of both sides' approach towards the aforementioned issues are recognised. Thailand made a great effort in the convening of the latest ASEAN-EC Ministerial Meeting or AEMM in Vientiane late last year. The said move has made a considerable contribution to the ASEAN-EU process. Furthermore, the visit of the EU troika to Myanmar made contribution to the development in Myanmar and the region. The current Thai government under the leadership of Prime Minister Thaksin Shinnawatra has attached high priority to overcome or even eradicate the drug problem which is closely related to Myanmar. Therefore, there are several sensitive issues in our relationship with Myanmar. However, Thailand is ready to continue to work with the European side to make more progress in solving this matter.
Furthermore, Thailand's foreign as well as domestic policy attach great importance on promoting human right, human security, democracy and good governance. Concurrently, the Foreign Minister also invented the so-called "Forward Engagement" and "Economic Diplomacy" to be important approaches in enhancing relationship and strengthening cooperation between Thailand and our neighboring countries.
Cooperation
In the area of cooperation, Thailand highly appreciates the cooperation from the EU side. We have been utilizing all categories of cooperations from the EU which are development, economic and humanitarian cooperations. Concerning the development cooperation, the last project that the EU has provided us is the Social Support project which is timely, because Thailand is now stimulating the economic recovery of the rural and agricultural areas. We recognize the fact that the EU has been phasing out the development cooperation from Thailand. However, because of the economic crisis, Thailand still needs development cooperation in some specific areas such as rural and agricultural development, the fight against poverty, health care reform, environment and some social issues.
Concerning economic cooperation, Thailand would like to focus more on the bilateral economic cooperation projects which are more responsive to our needs.
On the humanitarian assistance, Thailand would like to take more part in the coordination mechanism. Furthermore, we would like to support the Thai NGOs to get more involvement in operating projects relating to humanitarian assistance.
In pursuing our cooperation, the Thai side is of the view that we should develop our cooperation approach by expanding the scope and means of cooperation to go beyond a traditional project approach. While we still keep the project approach, we should also explore other forms of cooperation activities in order to both deepen and broaden our cooperations.
Besides, Thailand and the EU would also try to explore possibilities to expand our cooperation to third countries through the so-called "Tripartite Cooperation".
In the big picture, Thailand-EU relations are also conducted partly through the regional frameworks. Our cooperation in the framework of ASEAN-EU Dialogue is very close and pro-active. We, both, have also played key roles in making considerable progress in the ASEM process. Furthermore, Thailand and the European Commission are co-partners for various ASEM activities such as Asia-Europe Seminar in IT&T and Anti-money Laundering Initiative.
Trade and Investment
Despite the strong foundation of relations between Thailand and the EU, there are several issues of contention between the two sides which will require our joint efforts to find solutions. Despite the fact that we may have some differences, we feel that this is a natural characteristic of a mature relationship between the two parties.
The depth of Thai-EU relationship is mainly profound in the area of trade and investment. The EU remains one of our most important trade and investment partners. Even though the overall trade volume between Thailand and the EU has been increasing satisfactory, Thailand has some concerns on many EU's trade measures.
One of the issues of which many Thai exporters are well aware is anti-dumping and countervailing duties. Thailand has suggested time and time again that the Commission should exercise greater caution in initiating any anti-dumping investigation. Furthermore, most of the Thai products subjected to the EU's AD and CVD measures are small and medium enterprises. Therefore, the EU's AD/CVD measures have created such negative impacts for SMEs and the employment situation in Thailand. It is our ferment hope that, as a proclaimed advocate for free trade, the EU would be mindful of the adverse effects of such actions on its trading partners which is a developing economy and still suffering from the economic crisis.
It is no doubt that Thailand has enjoyed privilege under the EU's GSP scheme and is well aware that the GSP is a unilateral concession on the part of the EU. Nevertheless, it is evident that EU's GSP cut has produced serious negative effects on exports of some certain groups of Thai products to the EU market. For example, the export of fishery products from Thailand to the EU market registered negative growth of 48.49 and 8.34 percent in 1999 and 2000 respectively. Therefore Thailand would like to strongly urge the EU to consider the GSP status to those products which registered negative growth as a result of the EU's GSP cut.
Furthermore, the Thai export products have now been facing the increasing restrictions and barriers in penetrating into the EU market. The introduction of the white paper on food safety, the directive on animal welfare, the draft directives on electronic and electrical wastes, the green paper and directives on the PVC, the directive on 3-MCPD and several other measures on the SPS-related measures are all the cases in point. The Thai side is concerned about these increasing trends of imposing trade restrictive measures.
With respect to investment, although the EU's investment in Thailand is still existed but the Thai side is of the view that there is still great potential of increasing the EU's investment in Thailand as well as the Mekong sub-regions especially the investment from European SMEs. Thailand has massively improved our investment climate and regulations.
Conclusion
In response to the globalization and the fast change in the world community as well as the impact of the economic downturns in the US and Japan, while our road to recovery is still in the very beginning period, the EU is still our important partner, politically and economically. Thailand has positioned the EU as the core region within Europe and a key player in the world arena.
Thailand, then, also, hope that our increasing roles in the region will enable Thailand to serve as a bridge between Europe and Southeast Asia, and to some extent, Asia at large.
In sum, Thai-EU relations is a valuable and unique relationship. Thailand hopes that both sides will further make joint efforts to build on its strength and to minimize the key problems and differences. This will help setting the path for and ever closer relationship between Thailand and the EU.
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