Mission to brief EU on fishery progress
PETCHANET PRATRUANGKRAI
THE NATION

BANGKOK: -- THE Commerce Ministry will send an urgent mission to the European Union this week to explain Thailand's endeavours to solve the problem of illegal labour practices, hoping the EU will give the country a clean bill of health by an October deadline.

Commerce Minister Chatchai Sarikulya said yesterday that he had assigned his deputy Apiradi Tantraporn to lead officials and company representatives to the EU to meet with representatives of the European Commission and European importers.

The aim is to send a clear message about how serious the country is in addressing accusations of slave labour and focusing on environmentally friendly fishing.

The government has made many attempts to stamp out illegal hiring practices and should soon come up with strict law enforcement to solve the problem, Chatchai said.

On the issue of slow export growth, he said the problem should be bottoming out soon, as March exports declined more slowly, by about 4 per cent, after February's dropped by 6 per cent.

The ministry will soon release a revised export target for this year after talks with business operators from each industry this week, he added.

Nuntawan Sakuntanaga, director-general of the International Trade Promotion Department, said 63 Thai trade officials overseas had proceeded to explain to trade partners in their respective countries about Thailand's fishery industry to minimise the impact on seafood shipments after the country was warned by the EU about illegal fishing.

Importers of marine products used in the seafood industry are not worried yet, but importers of processed seafood have expressed some concern to Thailand about this problem, he said.

Suphachai Chearavanont, chief executive officer of True Corp, said that despite this problem, Thailand still had a chance to prove to the world that its fishery industry maintains high standards and to show the world the quality of its seafood products. Thailand should take this opportunity to show the country's potential to become the world's major supplier of fish and create a good image in the market.

The government should also closely cooperate with the private sector to promote Thai products in many markets, not only in the EU, such as Asian countries with their emerging economies and growing demand for fishery products, he said.

The Commerce Ministry yesterday kicked off the "Big companies help SMEs" project. The country's leading conglomerates - Thai Beverage, Saha Group, Charoen Pokphand Group, Central Group and Loxley - will help train 50 small and medium-sized enterprises to penetrate overseas markets.

Suphachai said large companies with extensive experience could help local SMEs explore world markets, since the global market offers great opportunities for Thai enterprises to expand.

The local market is fairly small, so Thai firms should develop themselves to go international amid the globalisation trend, he said.

However, business operators should copyright their brands and register their logos before venturing abroad to prevent intellectual-property problems, he added.

Peerush Jarugosol, managing director of ATMS Group, a low-scale designer of jewellery and ornaments, said he would like to learn from giant firms about establishing a foothold in overseas markets. Under the project, the firm will promote its Princess's Charm brand to retailers overseas, escorted by Central Group.

Source: http://www.nationmultimedia.com/business/Mission-to-brief-EU-on-fishery-progress-30258873.html


-- The Nation 2015-04-28

Explain, is that the same as BS ?

Will if be followed by a statement, from LoS of course, that all's well and the EU fully understand, accepts agrees etc. ?

Unfortunately for Thailand, the EU will require evidence and not assurances and promises from puuyai. That works with Thais but not the rest of the world.

This wiĺl be an important lesson for Thailand if they are serious about being respected members of the world community.

Edited April 27, 201511 yr by Loaded

Unfortunately for Thailand, the EU will require evidence and not assurances and promises from puuyai. That works with Thais but not the rest of the world.

This wiĺl be an important lesson for Thailand if they are serious about being respected members of the world community.Ii agree

I agree but lessons are only important if they are learned and not repeated, unfortunately that's not always how it works here and Thailand never reacts until faced with the final dead end, even then they want more time and it's everybody else's fault anyway.

A start might be to remove fishing from the protected jobs category from foreigners as i understand is the case, appologise if my understanding is wrong, allow registry of burmese workers, as the fishing industry will struggle to be financially viable for owners after the authorities get around to implement catch restrictions and other measures,

everything must be right , everything , in 6 months other way they ll get a red card from EU , no need to loose time and money to go speak to EU and cry like childrens who does wrong but promiss that they ll not do it again . and impose quotas and reals controls . time for thailand to understand that they are for sure not number one in the world exept for the corruption , the racism and xenophobie .time for them to accept that they have a lot learn from the farangs of all countries and that they have to respect the rules of international trade , the internationals laws , the tourists , the expats who live in thailand and stop to take them just like a wallet , give the expats some rights like in europe for the thai expats ( and all the expats ) . and about the copyright of brands , it's so funny to hear that form the number one copy country of the world . is he blind for not see that the markets and shops in thailand are full of copies ?

One Post Disrespectful to Thai people removed

A start might be to remove fishing from the protected jobs category from foreigners as i understand is the case, appologise if my understanding is wrong, allow registry of burmese workers, as the fishing industry will struggle to be financially viable for owners after the authorities get around to implement catch restrictions and other measures,

Burma also has fishing jobs as a "protected occupation". I am not sure what the outcomes of ASEAN economic integration will have in this regard.

The existing fishing industry will not be viable when the changes that are needed are brought into play - if its not then collapses in other countries as a result of unstainable fishing practices will force change. The required changes will reduce the size of the Thai fleet and as such will reduce the demand for labour.

Furthermore who cares about the owners - it is their greed and selfishness that have caused the problems. They have not cared about the environment, workers or even the long term health and stability of the Thai economy.

It will be little use for Thailand to send a mission to the EU to explain fishery progress.

All the EU want to hear are facts on resolving the Industries many issues - just cold, hard facts, backed up by action that is coherant, cohesive, and sustainable.

Lip service will be of no use at all to the Thai mission either today or in 5 months time.

The enforced changes will certainly reduce the demand for labour, but won't reduce demand for cheap labour, and foreign workers fit the bill, paying out on one hand and taking back in the other by way of various hidden costs such as accommodation and food when they're not at sea, and believe me they will spend more time in port than they do now, I know the UK is a different sector and can't be fully comparable, but quite a large percentage of the remaining UK fishing fleet are crewed by Philippinos, after the fleet were reduced,

Progress isn't About the new laws, it's proving that these laws are being enforced and vessels involved in illegal fishing have been apprehended and the skippers and owners punished financially.

Does anyone know what will happen to the catches of those vessels who break the laws? Who profits from the sale of the "black fish" ?

Progress isn't About the new laws, it's proving that these laws are being enforced and vessels involved in illegal fishing have been apprehended and the skippers and owners punished financially.

Does anyone know what will happen to the catches of those vessels who break the laws? Who profits from the sale of the "black fish" ?

The middle men will most likely profit by offering a reduced price for the % of black fish, (comparing to UK as I've no experience of the chain here in Los works), the boat owners will profit in the short term although suffer in the long term when they wipe out the stocks.