SOMEBODY ASK JAN EGELAND WHAT HE THINKS ABOUT THIS:
TSUNAMI-struck Thailand has been told by the European Commission that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft if it wants to escape the tariffs against its fishing industry.
While millions of Europeans are sending aid to Thailand to help its recovery, trade authorities in Brussels are demanding that Thai Airlines, its national carrier, pays £1.3 billion to buy its double-decker aircraft.
The demand will come as a deep embarrassment to Peter Mandelson, the trade commissioner, whose officials started the negotiation before the disaster struck Thailand – killing tens of thousands of people and damaging its economy.
While aid workers from across Europe are helping to rebuild Thai livelihoods, trade officials in Brussels are concluding a jets-for-prawns deal, which they had hoped to announce next month.
As the world’s largest producer of prawns, Thailand has become so efficient that its wares are half the price of those caught by Norway, the main producer of prawns for the EU.
Norway. Home of Jan Egeland. If you ask me, this sounds rather . . . stingy.
UPDATE: A reader says that there are many errors in the Scotsman piece. Click “read more” to read his response.
Response follows:
I strongly agree with the notion behind what the Scotsman’s article is saying, that the best to help the countries affected by the tsunami/earthquake is for developed countries to remove (or at least lower) the tariffs they place imports from the affected countries. However, the Scotsman you link to has a number of their facts wrong.
1. “[w]hile millions of Europeans are sending aid to Thailand to help its recovery”.
The Thai Prime Minister has repeatedly stated he is not accepting any international aid (except for technical assistance), as he wants the countries sending aid to remove/lower their tariffs instead
(Source: http://thailand.prd.go.th/the_focus_view.php?id=553 and http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/13/asia.tsunami/ )On a side note, the Economist believes another reason is that Thailand is worried that a delay to ‘its repayments may send the wrong signal to the capital markets, it fears, suggesting that Thailand is a mendicant country unable to carry its debts.’
(Source: http://www.economist.com/agenda/displaystory.cfm?story_id=3555114 )2. ‘that it must buy six A380 Airbus aircraft’
I am sure hoping that the six A380s talked about are the not same six A380s that Thai Airways ordered in September 2004. It is possible that the agreement is another six A380s, but the article is also implying that Thai Airways is being forced to buy A380s against its will. Thai Airways has purchased a large number of Airbuses in recent times and the deal is more likely just part of the Thai PM’s preference for using Thai agricultural products as part of a large trade deal (http://www.defesanet.com.br/fx/gripenchickens/ – the 2nd article)
(Source: http://www.flightsimaviation.com/avnews149_Thai_Airways_order_Airbus_A380.html and
http://www.airbus.com/dynamic/media/press_releases.asp)3. ‘disaster struck Thailand – killing tens of thousands of people’
Only 5,500 people have died in Thailand so far. While there are estimated to be 3,500-5,000 people missing, this is certainly not tens of thousands of people as suggested by the article (ok this is somewhat minor, but they could easily have given a more accurate figure).
(Source: http://www.cnn.com/2005/WORLD/asiapcf/01/13/asia.tsunami/ and local Thai language media)