January 26, 2004

 

 

Thailand To Hold International Bird Flu Summit

 

Thailand will hold an international summit in Bangkok on Tuesday for countries hit by bird flu as well as chicken importers in the region and animal health experts.

 

Participating countries would include Vietnam, Japan, China, Cambodia, Laos, South Korea, Singapore, the European Union, the United States, Hong Kong, the World Health Organisation and the Food and Agriculture Organisation.

According to government spokesman Jakrapob Penkair, Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra told cabinet at a mobile meeting in Kanchanaburi that tackling the bird flu epidemic and rebuilding confidence were the government's top priorities.

He believed the Asian region could solve the problem despite remarks from outside the region that Asia had acted too late or would not be able to tackle the crisis.

"We must not listen to those opinions," he said.

Asia had succeeded in containing severe acute respiratory syndrome or Sars which was more serious than bird flu because it was contagious among humans, he said.

Deputy Prime Minister Somkid Jatusripitak, who chairs a committee handling the bird flu crisis, said the first task was to bring back public confidence and end the spread of the disease in one month.

The Agriculture Ministry would take samples from every chicken farm each week to check for the virus and would order poultry culled where infections were found, Mr Somkid said.

The government would provide financial support for farmers to raise chickens in a closed system, he said.

The deputy prime minister said the social and economic effects of the crisis would be shortlived.

He denied the bird flu crisis could cost the country 60 billion baht in lost chicken exports.

Mr Somkid said damage to exports over a six-month period would be around 40-50 billion baht, but he believed exports could resume sooner than that.

"If we cannot send chickens out for three months, that will cost us around 30 billion baht. But if exports stop for only one month, the damage will be around 10 billion baht," he said.

Mr Somkid said the government would be able to make money from other industries, such as tourism, to make up for losses in chicken exports.

Commerce Minister Watana Muangsook played down effects from the ban by overseas buyers on Thai chickens, saying chicken exports were worth 40 billion baht a year compared to total income from exports of three trillion baht a year.

Mr Watana said this year's GDP growth of 8% should still be achieved as the ban on chicken exports should cost the country only 0.1%-0.2% of GDP. He said the European Union banned only fresh and frozen chickens but not cooked and processed chicken and he would ask Japan to resume buying cooked chicken.

Mr Watana said the crisis should be over soon as the Agriculture Ministry could declare the country free of bird flu if no infections were reported in the next 21 days.

After that, WHO and other international organisations would help check for safety again, he said, adding the virus itself could not survive the hot season, which starts in February or March.

Kiattipong Noijaiboon, vice-chairman of the Federation of Thai Industries, said the government should ask WHO to help confirm the safety of Thai chickens to revive confidence of importers.

Wichai Techawattananan, chairman of the Association of Egg Producers, Traders and Exporters, said exporters had suspended egg sales to Indonesia, South Africa and the Middle East after bird flu caused a drop in local output, to help stop egg prices soaring further.

Tourism and Sports Minister Sonthaya Khunpleum said the bird flu epidemic had not hurt the tourist industry.