VZCZCXRO0963
OO RUEHCHI RUEHCN RUEHDT RUEHHM
DE RUEHBK #1150/01 1311037
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
O 111037Z MAY 09
FM AMEMBASSY BANGKOK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC IMMEDIATE 6974
INFO RUCPDOC/DEPT OF COMMERCE WASHDC IMMEDIATE
RUEHRC/DEPT OF AGRICULTURE WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEATRS/DEPT OF TREASURY WASHINGTON DC IMMEDIATE
RUEHZS/ASSOCIATION OF SOUTHEAST ASIAN NATIONS IMMEDIATE
RUEHCHI/AMCONSUL CHIANG MAI IMMEDIATE 6536

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 BANGKOK 001150 
 
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COMMERCE FOR EAP/MAC/OKSA 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958:N/A 
TAGS: ECON EAGR ETRD PREL PINR TH
SUBJECT: THAILAND NAMES NEW TRADE REPRESENTATIVE 
 
BANGKOK 00001150  001.2 OF 002 
 
 
¶1. (SBU) Summary: The Thai Cabinet approved May 6 the appointment of 
former Democrat Party parliamentarian Kiat Sittheeamorn as the Royal 
Thai Government's (RTG) new trade representative, a position 
resurrected from the Thaksin years.  At a higher rank than former 
Prime Minister Thaksin's trade representative, Kiat will hold the 
equivalent of a Deputy Prime Minister position and will oversee all 
trade-related aspects of the Abhisit administration's economic 
policies.  He likely will lead future negotiations of any trade and 
investment agreements that the RTG pursues.  Perhaps a more 
difficult challenge for Kiat will be coordinating the government's 
trade policies at the Ministries of Commerce, Agriculture, 
Information and Communication Technology, Finance, Foreign Affairs, 
and Industry.  Specific details on the composition of Kiat's office 
and how he will interact with the other trade-related government 
ministries remain unclear at this point.  We will report septel as 
the office takes shape.  End Summary. 
 
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A Resurrected Position, But With More Power 
------------------------------------------- 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Cabinet approved the creation of the office of the 
Thailand Trade Representative (TTR) on January 20, 2009; however, 
due to differences of opinion within the Cabinet, it took almost 
four months to push through Kiat Sittheeamorn's appointment as the 
Chairman of the TTR, formally approved on May 6. 
¶3. (SBU) Kiat had served as the Democrat Party's "shadow commerce 
minister" in the opposition prior to the election of Prime Minister 
Abhisit in December 2008.  To Kiat's surprise however, he did not 
receive the real job of Commerce Minister during the political 
wrangling that formed the coalition government.  In what was 
believed to be a last-minute deal to secure support for Abhisit as 
Prime Minister, the Democrats surrendered the Commerce Ministry to 
their coalition partners, leaving Kiat without a job.  However, he 
quickly maneuvered and convinced Abhisit to create another 
Cabinet-level position for him, in which he would oversee trade 
matters. 
 
¶4. (SBU) The new office of the Thailand Trade Representative will 
consist of a chairman (Kiat) and four other senior representatives 
that will be appointed by the Prime Minister at a later date.  The 
chairman will be equivalent in rank to a Deputy Prime Minister and 
will report directly to the Prime Minister.  Modeled somewhat after 
the U.S. Trade Representative, the TTR will coordinate and oversee 
the trade-related policies of the Ministries of Commerce, 
Agriculture, Information and Communication Technology, Finance, 
Foreign Affairs, Industry, and any other trade-related agencies. 
The TTR will also oversee any trade negotiations that the government 
pursues. 
 
¶5. (SBU) Note: Former Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra created a 
trade representative position early in his administration.  The 
position was essentially subservient to the Commerce Minister and 
focused on trade promotions rather than trade negotiations. 
Thaksin's TTR was eliminated in March 2007 when then Commerce 
Minister Krirkkrai Jirapaet successfully argued that the duties and 
responsibilities of the trade representative's office were 
duplicative of those of his ministry. End Note. 
 
------------------------------ 
Comment: Kiat's Views on Trade 
------------------------------ 
 
¶6. (SBU) Comment: In several conversations between Emboffs and Kiat 
over the past few months, Kiat has candidly shared his views on 
trade.  He speaks enthusiastically about taking on this new position 
and hopes to articulate a clear trade policy on behalf of the 
Abhisit administration.  Kiat believes that open markets and free 
trade are an ideal, but that -- unfortunately -- the ideal is often 
unattainable.  He has argued that special interest groups work with 
sympathetic governments to enact a plethora of trade rules and 
regulations on their behalf; if politicians do not fight hard for 
the regulations that will benefit their domestic special interests, 
the country will quickly lose out in the global economy.  He 
supports compensating domestic groups who are disadvantaged in trade 
deals as an important goal of trade negotiations.  He also often 
talks about how, in his view, Thaksin managed Thailand's trade 
policy for personal gain, rather than for the benefit of Thailand. 
 
¶7. (SBU) Kiat tends to be leery of multilateral investment 
agreements, believing that bilateral trade agreements already take 
enough economic policy tools away from government.  If investment 
policy prerogatives were to be negotiated away as well, he has 
suggested that a government would be left with nothing with which to 
 
BANGKOK 00001150  002.2 OF 002 
 
 
shape its economic policy.  However, he has expressed interest in 
the possibility of a wider East Asia trade agreement (consisting of 
ASEAN member nations plus China, Japan, and South Korea).  When 
discussing US trade issues, he has commented on how, in his opinion, 
U.S. anti-dumping laws violate basic legal norms, since anti-dumping 
mechanisms are punishments based on presumptive guilt, rather than 
proven wrongdoing.  End Comment. 
 
---------------- 
Biographic Notes 
---------------- 
 
¶8. (SBU) Born September 26, 1959, Kiat Sitheeamorn holds a 
bachelor's degree in engineering from Chulalongkorn University, a 
Master's in International Affairs from the Fletcher School at Tufts 
University, and a Certificate in Business Management from the 
Harvard Business School.  A former member of parliament, Kiat served 
as the Democrat Party's "shadow commerce minister" in 2007 and 2008. 
 Before entering politics, Kiat was a prominent Thai businessman and 
the managing director of several international trading companies. 
While in the private sector, he held numerous business advocacy 
positions including Chairman of the International Chamber of 
Commerce of Thailand, the Deputy Secretary General of the Board of 
Trade of Thailand, and Director of Thai Chamber of Commerce.  A 
member of the Democrat Party, Kiat was elected to Parliament in 
February 2005, and while in office, he actively participated in the 
parliamentary discussions on the Thailand-US Free Trade Agreement 
negotiations, as well as other free trade agreement discussions. 
Kiat is very vocal on international trade issues and speaks 
regularly at business associations and universities about his views 
on Thailand's trade policies.  Kiat speaks English fluently.  He is 
divorced and has two children. 
 
JOHN