Cablegate: Trade Official On Special 301, Zyprexa, Rice

This record is a partial extract of the original cable. The full text of the original cable is not available.

UNCLAS ANKARA 003047

SIPDIS

DEPT FOR EB/TPP/MTA/IPE - JURBAN AND EUR/SE
DEPT PASS USTR FOR LERRION/JCHOE-GROVES
DEPT PASS USPTO FOR JURBAN AND EWU
USDOC FOR ITA/MAC/DDEFALCO
USDA FAS WASHDC

SENSITIVE

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ETRD KIPR EAGR TU
SUBJECT: TRADE OFFICIAL ON SPECIAL 301, ZYPREXA, RICE
QUOTA AND TIFA

1. (SBU) Summary: The Foreign Trade Undersecretariat's
(FTU) Director General for Agreements maintained that
the GOT would not take any action on applications to
market copies of Zyprexa while the issue is still in
the courts; promised that State Minister Tuzmen would
soon reply to the joint USDA-USTR letter on rice
quotas; and suggested dates in July for a TIFA meeting.
End Summary.

2. (SBU) Econ Counselor, Econoff and Agriculture
Attache discussed the Special 301 announcement for
Turkey, Zyprexa, Turkey's rice quota system, and
scheduling a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement
(TIFA) meeting with FTU DG for Agreements Tevfik Mengu
May 27. Mengu said the decision to maintain Turkey on
the Special 301 Priority Watch List was "not fair",
maintaining that Turkey had a strong and improving IPR
regime. Mengu said the GOT would not grant marketing
permission for the generic manufacturer in the Zyprexa
case before the courts had reached a final decision,
and emphasized that no Turkish bureaucrat would take
the personal risk of making a decision one way or the
other while the court case is ongoing. He also
confirmed that Turkey's data exclusivity regulation
would be strengthened soon by expanding protection to
nonpatented molecules.

3. (SBU) On the rice quota system, Mengu said that
State Minister Tuzmen would reply shortly to the April
29 joint USDA-USTR letter. He maintained that rice
imports had increased by nearly 700 percent in 2004 and
that Turkey was not hindering U.S. exports. Ag Attache
responded that, notwithstanding the absence of formal
rules blocking imports from the United States, the
Agriculture Ministry has not issued permits for rice to
be imported outside the quota system. He also noted
that the USG delegation planned to raise the problem at
the June meeting of the WTO Import Licensing Committee.
Mengu offered to investigate specific cases in which
the Agriculture Ministry denied import certificates,
and suggested that Emboffs inform him of such cases in
the future.

4. (U) TIFA: Mengu informed us that FTU proposes to
convene a TIFA meeting in Ankara sometime between July
11 and 13. Following the meeting, Econoff confirmed
that a written proposal to this effect will be conveyed
through both the MFA in Ankara and the Turkish Embassy
in Washington.

5. (U) Action Request: Please advise whether proposed
TIFA dates are acceptable to the interagency community.
EDELMAN

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