Pitfield has been asked to report back to Thailand after the conference and is learnt to have been replaced by Thai foreign secretary.
Thailand has replaced its ambassador at the World Trade Organization (WTO) Pimchanok Vonkorpon Pitfield after India lodged a strong protest against her outburst against India at the consultation meeting on agriculture during the 13th Ministerial Conference here, a senior official said.
The official said Pitfield has been asked to report back to Thailand after the conference and is learnt to have been replaced by Thai foreign secretary.
At the meeting the Thai ambassador had accused India of using food grain stocks procured by the government for a public distribution system to capture the export market for rice. This argument has also been made by the US at the WTO on occasions when discussions on a permanent solution to public stockholding of foodgrains for food security had been discussed.
Sources said that Thailand’s attack on Indian position drew a long applause at the meeting from the group of countries who are biggest agriculture exporters and some developed countries.
Following this India has formally registered protest with the Thai government and expressed its displeasure to WTO secretary general Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala and agriculture committee chair UAE and Kenya. India also refused to participate in some of the meetings where a Thai representative was present.
India took a strong objection to the Thai ambassador’s remarks which they said were in “bad taste”. “The language and behaviour of the ambassador was uncalled for. Countries can put forward their views on but cannot attack positions of others using aggressive posturing and language,” sources said.
Thailand is the biggest competitor of India in the global rice market. While India is at the top, Thailand is the second biggest exporter followed by Vietnam. Thailand is also a member of a 19-nation group of agriculture exporters called Cairns group. Other members of the group include Argentina, Brazil, Australia and Indonesia.
Source:financialexpress.com