Swedish PM Rejects Jets-For-Chicken Trade
MATTIAS KAREN
Associated Press
STOCKHOLM, Sweden - The Swedish government cannot negotiate a deal
with Thailand to trade jet fighters for raw chicken meat, Prime
Minister Goeran Persson said Thursday.
Thai Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra, who met with Persson in the
Swedish capital Thursday, told Thai media earlier this week he
hoped to broker a poultry-for-planes deal with Sweden, as his
country's chicken exports have suffered badly from a bird flu
outbreak.
Persson said he would love to see the JAS 39 Gripen jet fighter
sold to Thailand, but that it was up to Saab, the aircraft maker,
to negotiate the terms.
"I realize the Thai Prime Minister always makes deals that are
extremely keen on the current economic situation," Persson told
reporters during a joint news conference with Thaksin.
"But how they should arrange (a deal) is not up to the Swedish
government, it's up to the commercial partner, Saab," he said. "We
will try to figure out which conditions we should have, state to
state, for Saab to make a commercial deal."
Thaksin reiterated his hopes for agricultural products to be used
as currency.
"We would prefer to have a countertrade, instead of paying cash up
front," Thaksin said. If Sweden should have a need for chickens or
other agricultural products, "then that can be arranged,
easily."
Thaksin did not say how many jet fighters Thailand wants to
buy.
A Saab spokesman could not immediately be reached for
comment.
Thailand, among the top four poultry exporters in the world, has
been badly hit by two outbreaks of avian influenza that killed 28
people in Asia this year, including nine in Thailand. Thaksin said
earlier this week that the country has a huge inventory of raw
chicken meat stored in warehouses.
"My government will do whatever to help chicken farmers sell their
chicken meat," he told Thailand's state-owned Channel 9.
Thaksin has also tried to trade chickens for arms with
Russia.
Sweden has previously sold or leased Jas 39 Gripen planes several
other countries, including the Czech Republic and Hungary.