. /.WORLD TRADE
ORGANIZATIONG/AG/NG/W/31
11 July 2000
(00-2829)
Committee on Agriculture
Special SessionOriginal:  English
SECOND SPECIAL SESSION OF THE COMMITTEE ON AGRICULTURE
29-30 JUNE 2000
Statement by Thailand
Document:  G/AG/NG/W/13
At the outset we would like to thank our colleagues from developing countries for submitting
this paper.
Thailand attaches great importance to the issue of S and D for developing countries.
Members should note that Cairns Group members also propose the S and D in the context of export
competition.  Thailand will continue to support the S and D as an integral part of the negotiations.
As a developing country Thailand shares the concerns expressed in this document.  These
concerns include poverty eradication, rural development as well as economic development.  Howeverwe must understand that S and D is not a panacea, though it might be one of the answers.
In this connection, we would like to share our comments as follows:
1. The correction and prevention of trade distorting measures would  benefit both developing
and developed countries.
2. The group has done a good assessment on the impact of agricultural liberalization  in
developing countries, particularly on the point that the existing agriculture rule is unequal and
unfair.  We see that these problems and loopholes should be addressed in this present
negotiations to remedy the situation.
3. We entirely agree with the paper that calls for an immediate elimination of all forms of export
subsidies by developed countries.
4. We also share the view that domestic production capacity of developing countries must be
encouraged and helped along to become more competitive rather than destroyed on the basis
of non-competitiveness.
These are our preliminary comments and we look forward to further discussions in the future.G/AG/NG/W/31
Page 2
Document:  G/AG/NG/W/15
Let me start by welcoming the US's submission on a comprehensive agricultural reform.  It is
indeed a continuation of the reform process of agricultural trade in accordance with Article 20 of the
Agriculture Agreement. We fully share the objectives of this reform process in order to correct and to
prevent restrictions and distortions in world agricultural markets.
My preliminary comments on the paper under consideration would concentrate on the general
issues and would comment again in greater details at a later stage.
1. We agree that this negotiation must be built on what was established by the Agreement on
Agriculture, namely, Market Access, Domestic Supports and Export Competition.  However,we should adopt an equal base for which these three pillars will be further liberalized.
Developing countries that are reliant on agricultural exports cannot access to markets of
countries that domestically subsidize their products in various forms.  We are also forced to
compete with the subsidized export in the wo rld market.  Therefore, the ambitious proposal
on market access on one hand and the less ambitious proposal on domestic support on theother hand will not be able to address the issue at hand, but rather increase the disparity
among the three pillars that already prevails.
We would also like to emphasize that the S&D provision should be included in the three
pillars, i.e. domestic support, market access, and export competition.
2. In this connection, we welcome the US's proposal that is calling for an elimination of export
subsidies
3. With regard to the timeframe of agricultural negotiation, we share the idea of reaching an
overall agreement by the end of 2002 and reaching agreement on basic modalities at the
midterm of the negotiations in 2001.  Thailand believes that this goal can be achieved only if
Members show their cooperation and political will to do so.
4. We also agree that non-trade concerns are best met through programmes targeted to those
concerns without creating new distorting measure.  In this respect, we are ready to address
this issue in the course of the negotiations.
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