US embassy cable - 05ANKARA3047

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