*‘Discuss FTA in Parliament’ *

*Date:20/09/2009* *URL:
http://www.thehindu.com/2009/09/20/stories/2009092053990300.htm*
Staff Reporter

   KOLLAM: Kerala Swathantra Matsya Thozhilali Federation State president T.
Peter has demanded that the Indo-ASEAN free trade agreement (FTA) be
comprehensively discussed in Parliament before being implemented.

He was inaugurating a seminar on ‘ASEAN agreement and its concerns along the
Kerala coast’ on Saturday.

The seminar was organised by the Kerala Matsysthozhilali Kshema Samithi.

Mr. Peter said the fishing community across the country feared that the
implementation of the agreement would impoverish them as 117 species of
edible fish caught and sold by them would be imported into the country on a
large scale. This would push the fishing community into a crisis.

He called upon all members of the community to shed their political
differences and come forward to oppose the agreement. He demanded that all
MPs from the State present the concerns of the community over the agreement
in Parliament.

The Chief Minister should take an all-party delegation and meet the Prime
Minister in this connection, he said.

Mr. Peter said fishermen would soon launch strong agitations against the
agreement. Samithi president Jose Vimal Raj presided.
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