PHA-Exchange> US behind removal of WHO rep to Thailand]

[claudio at hcmc.netnam.vn]

from Bala <bala at haiap.org> -----
> The Bangkok Post
> June 20 2006
>
> http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/20Jun2006_news03.php
>
> STRING PULLING / ALDIS WARNED AGAINST THAI-US FREE TRADE PACT
>
> US 'behind' WHO official's ouster
>
> POST REPORTERS
>
> Washington was behind the abrupt removal of a World Health Organisation
> representative to Thailand after he wrote of possible adverse impacts to
> Thailand of a free trade agreement with the US, a source said yesterday.
>
> In an article published in the Bangkok Post on Jan 9, William Aldis urged
> Thailand to think carefully before inking the FTA pact with the US, saying
> that restrictive intellectual property rights under the bilateral trade
> agreement would prevent Thailand from using affordable locally produced
> generic drugs.
>
> He said anti-viral HIV drugs would be extremely expensive after the FTA
> went into force.
>
> The critical piece was published as the sixth round of Thai-US FTA
> negotiations took place in Chiang Mai.
>
> In March, the late WHO director-general Lee Jong-wook decided to transfer
> Mr Aldis to a research position in New Delhi.
>
> The Asia Times Online website ran an investigative report about the
> transfer of Mr Aldis on Saturday.
>
> The report said the removal of the WHO representative reflected powerful 
> US
> influence on the international body.
>
> The report quotes an unnamed WHO source as saying Lee decided to recall Mr
> Aldis shortly after a US ambassador to the UN in Geneva paid a private 
> visit
> to Lee on March 23 to express Washington's displeasure with Mr Aldis'
> article in the Bangkok Post.
>


------------------------------------------------------------------
This mail sent through Netnam-HCMC ISP: http://www.hcmc.netnam.vn/