By Vithoon Amorn

BANGKOK, March 20 (Reuters) - Thailand will continue talks with global pharmaceutical firms on a drug pricing dispute after its decisions to issue compulsory licences for some medicines, an executive of the U.S. Chamber of Commerce said on Tuesday.

A meeting with cabinet ministers produced hope the government and pharmaceutical companies could resolve their disputes, Daniel Christman, the chamber's senior vice president said.

"What we found here was a willingness of Thai government officials to continue a dialogue which, in their view, has been uninterrupted."

The meeting followed an announcement by Abbott Laboratories last week that it would not introduce new new drugs in Thailand in protest at the way the army-backed government ignored international drug patents.

Thailand issued a compulsory licence in January allowing it to make or buy generic versions of Abbott's Kaletra to treat HIV/AIDS to loud applause from AIDS activists.

Abbott is believed to be the first pharmaceutical firm to withhold new medicines from Thailand since the government shocked drug makers late last year with its first compulsory licence, for Efavirenz, an HIV/AIDS treatment made by Merck & Co.

Thailand has since also issued one for Plavix, a heart disease medicine made by Bristol-Myers Squibb and Sanofi-Aventis, the first time a developing nation has done so for such a treatment.

Christman said the consequences could be in foreign investment.

"One of the ways in which a country can compete successfully is to attract foreign investment through a reputation that says it respects the protection of intellectual property," he said.

The U.S. Chamber said a survey of 234 foreign business executives this month showed Thailand's new economic policies and poor intellectual property safeguards could disrupt foreign investment.

"Fully 75 percent of executives say the recent military coup and controversial new economic policies in Thailand would be factors in their final decision on investments over the next three years," it said in a statement.

Although legal under world trade rules, the compulsory licences, which allow governments to make or buy generic versions of medicines needed for public health measures, stunned drug makers who received no prior warning.

Other policy decisions criticized by foreign investors were moves to tighten foreign business ownership and capital controls on foreign funds brought in.

The chamber said executives put Thailand in the top spot among six Southeast Asian countries where government decisions had damaged business attitudes.

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