Thailand to lodge complaint with WTO against Australia over shrimp rules

The government would late this month lodge a complaint with the World Trade Organisation against the unfair trade practice raised by Australia against shrimp imported from countries including Thailand.

Chutima Bunyapraphasara, director-general of Trade Negotiations Department, said Thursday that a trade negotiating team would hold talks with shrimp buyers in Australia this week to put pressure on their government to cancel the soon-to-be launched stricter requirements for imported shrimp.

The department will raise this issue during the WTO's sanitary and phyto-sanitary committee meeting to be held from February 28-March 1 in Geneva.

The Australian measures would be a setback to the country's shrimp exports.

The restrictions were drawn up by Bio-security Australia after the government there claimed it would protect its consumers from disease-carrying shrimp as well as its farmers from surging imports.

The Nation