DEMARCHE ON CARTAGENA PROTOCOL (Thailand)

UNCLAS BANGKOK 000380 SIPDIS SENSITIVE BUT UNCLASSIFIED DEPT FOR USDA/FAS -Steve Froggett; OES - Danielle Wood EEB/TPP/MTAA/ABT - Marcella Szymanski E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: EAGR ECON ETRD TBIO KPAO TH SUBJECT: DEMARCHE ON CARTAGENA PROTOCOL (Thailand) Ref: State 11910 ¶1. (U) Summary: FAS Counselor delivered Reftel demarche to the Royal Thai Government's (RTG) action agency, the Ministry of Natural Resources, on February 12. Thailand is not likely to have a policy position by the Mexico City meeting and will not send a representative. FAS and State continue to engage with the RTG on biosafety; FAS will send the RTG's principal policy officer to the U.S. this year under the Cochran program. END SUMMARY. ¶2. (U) Agricultural Counselor spoke on February 11 and 13 with Pattarin Sanghaisuk, Senior Environmental Officer in the Biological Diversity Division, Office of Natural Resources and Environmental Policy and Planning, in the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment (MONRE). Ms. Sanghaisuk is the policy lead for Living Modified Organisms and the Cartagena Protocol; MONRE has the institutional lead for the Royal Thai Government. ¶3. (U) Ms. Sanghaisuk was aware of the meeting in Mexico City on February 23-27, and Thailand will not send a delegate. She indicated that as this was a meeting for the Group of the Friends of the Co-Chairs, the composition of the Group was previously determined and Thailand was not eligible to participate. According to Sanghaisuk, Asia/Pacific representatives will be from Bangladesh, China, India, Malaysia, Palau, and the Philippines. ¶4. (SBU) For the time being, Thailand is not developing an official position for the Mexico City meeting. Normally a Thai position is developed on request from the Convention on Biological Diversity Secretariat (which has not been made for this meeting) and is developed in consultation with the RTG agencies involved (Ministry of Agriculture, Agricultural Commodity and Food Standards office, and the National Center for Genetic Engineering and Biotechnology [BIOTEC]). Unofficially Sanghaisuk indicated that RTG views had not coalesced from earlier discussions. ¶5. (U) The Mission's Foreign Agricultural Service office has worked closely with Sanghaisuk and is sponsoring her visit to the U.S. under USDA's Cochran program. Her predecessor, Vithet Srinetr, currently working for MONRE in Laos was also a Cochran visitor. These visits help familiarize RTG officials with U.S. policy as FAS helps the RTG develops its biosafety legislation and regulations. JOHN