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September 20, 2005
News | Thailand-U.S. push free trade deal
WASHINGTON (AP) -- U.S. President George W. Bush and Thailand's leader have agreed to make "vigorous efforts" to reach a free-trade agreement.
A fifth round of trade negotiations between the countries is scheduled next week in Hawaii, and Bush told Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra on Monday that he hoped to have a deal "as soon as possible."
Thaksin, who was scheduled to return to Thailand on Tuesday, said officials were "pressing ahead with the FTA."
Thailand reached a basic free trade agreement with Japan this month, and signed an FTA with India last year and with Australia in 2003.
A group of U.S. lawmakers had wanted Bush, during the meeting, to take Thaksin to task publicly for what they consider his cozy relationship with the military dictatorship in neighboring Myanmar (also called Burma) and, they said, for "giving himself Draconian powers" to curb the democratic freedoms of Thai citizens.
While a joint statement issued by the leaders mentioned "concern over current trends in Burma" and an agreement to "have closer consultations on this matter," Bush spoke to reporters of his "close friendship" with Thaksin, whom he called a "very thoughtful leader."
"The prime minister is a person who believes in markets and free enterprise and freedom," Bush said. "It was a very good visit, covering a lot of subjects, and I'm not surprised because I'm visiting with a good friend."
The leaders said they had ordered their staff to work on a "comprehensive Plan of Action covering all major areas of cooperation" between the countries -- "a road map to maximize the benefits arising from close and productive U.S.-Thai relations."
They also spoke of increased military and political ties, with the statement noting that "Thailand plays a key role in U.S. engagement in Southeast Asia."
Bush and Thaksin mentioned possible meetings on security issues between Thai and U.S. officials in Bangkok this (northern hemisphere) autumn.
Thaksin also invited Bush to meet leaders from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations during a November summit of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum in South Korea.
Posted by Lance Powers at September 20, 2005 06:26 PM
Comments
If you are going to abandon your blog, it is only considered proper behavior and decent humankind to let everyone know:
I quit my blog. You may now delete this blog.
thanks for your kind attention.
Carl
Posted by: Carl Parkes at October 1, 2005 06:31 AM
Awfully sorry if you're upset, old bean, but we've been very busy lately. You know - trying to earn a crust.
While we would both dearly love to do nothing but spend our time coming up with great ideas about what to write here and then put pen to paper, so to speak, creative writing is enormously demanding on time and brain power.
When you have several projects on the go plus a life to live (after all, how else do you think we come up with the odd snippet that we actually DO get around to posting here?), it does not always leave you with the time, energy and inspiration to produce the most awesome posts.
And yes, I know I promised in my last posting to be quicker about the next one. I'm sorry, ok?
I'll try to get something up soon, said the bishop to the choir boy.
Anyway, I DO have a mountain of crap, I mean material to post, I just need to find the time (and the odd spell between bouts of RSI) to put it together.
Rick-O-Matique
Posted by: Rick Salasar at October 3, 2005 01:34 PM
