November 22, 2004

Russia to Reduce Tariff for Thai Frozen Chicken Imports

Russia has agreed to reduce tariff for imports of Thai frozen chicken by 20 percent.

This move follows a bilateral trade meeting between leaders of the two countries on the sidelines of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation being held in the Chilean capital.

Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra said that Russian President Vladimir Putin agreed to give Thailand the tariff reduction instead of offering a quota as Russia has never imported Thai chicken before.

Mr. Thaksin added that he also discussed the implementation of its barter scheme to trade chicken for Russian army planes. Progress is expected be made by next month.

''We cannot let our poultry go bankrupt. If the business gets worse, it would take us a longer time to recover. It would also wreck our farmers, and other related businesses. Putting our chicken into the barter system would save our poultry. And coincidentally, our army at the moment needs development as it lacked a budget to improve itself after the country was hit by the economic crisis,'' he said.

''Russia has got Sukhoi 30 mk which is a popular model for army planes, and Russia has offered to trade them with Thai frozen chicken which we have more than 100,000 tons in stock. If we could agree primarily on our conditions, we would then hold a further talk on technical issues with Russian foreign minister who would visit next month. The commander of the Royal Thai Air Force will also be asked to join the discussion,'' said Mr. Thaksin.