• by IPS Correspondents (bogor, indonesia)
• Tuesday, November 15, 1994
• Inter Press Service

BOGOR, INDONESIA, Nov 15 (IPS) - IN WHAT COULD BE THE FIRST GLIMMER OF THE DAWN OF THE PACIFIC CENTURY, LEADERS OF 18 ECONOMIES ON BOTH SIDES OF THE PACIFIC OCEAN AGREED HERE TUESDAY ON FREE TRADE WITHIN THE NEXT 25 YEARS.

AFTER A DAY-LONG MEETING IN THIS TOWN SOUTH OF THE INDONESIAN CAPITAL, ASIA-PACIFIC ECONOMIC COOPERATION (APEC) MEMBERS AGREED ON A STAGGERED IMPLEMENTATION OF FREE TRADE: ADVANCED COUNTRIES WILL REACH THE GOAL BY 2010 AND DEVELOPING ECONOMIES BY 2020.

THE COMMITMENTS ARE FOUND IN AN EIGHT-PAGE 'APEC ECONOMIC LEADERS' DECLARATION OF COMMON RESOLVE' WHICH SAID: "OUR GOAL IS AN AMBITIOUS ONE. BUT WE ARE DETERMINED TO DEMONSTRATE APEC'S LEADERSHIP IN FOSTERING FURTHER GLOBAL TRADE AND INVESTMENT LIBERALISATION."

THE DOCUMENT TOOK SOME TIME TO HAMMER OUT, BUT THE LEADERS PLEDGED TO START THE TRADE LIBERALISATION PROCESS IMMEDIATELY.

THE AGREEMENT SIGNALS THE START OF EFFORTS TO CREATE WHAT WOULD BE THE WORLD'S LARGEST ZONE OF FREE TRADE, AN AREA THAT RUNS FROM NORTH AMERICA DOWN TO ASIA AND AUSTRALIA IN A REGION OF MORE THAN TWO BILLION PEOPLE AND 40 PERCENT OF GLOBAL TRADE.

THE BOGOR DECLARATION ADDS FLESH TO THE VISION OF FREE TRADE FIRST DRAWN UP AT THE FIRST APEC LEADERS' MEETING IN SEATTLE LAST YEAR WHICH WAS PUSHED BY THEN APEC HOST THE UNITED STATES. IT ADOPTED THE PROPOSAL MADE BY THE EMINENT PERSONS GROUP, AN ADVISORY GROUP TO APEC, FOR FREER TRADE BY THE YEAR 2020.

THE 18 APEC LEADERS WHO MET TUESDAY INCLUDED THOSE FROM THE ASSOCIATION OF SOUTH-EAST ASIAN NATIONS (ASEAN) -- INDONESIAN PRESIDENT SUHARTO, BRUNEI SULTAN HASSANAL BOLKIAH, MALAYSIAN 2 |(2-E)

THOUGH U.S. UNDER SECRETARY GARTEN WAS RELUCTANT TO COMPARE INDIA AND CHINA AS FOREIGN INVESTMENT MAGNETS, THE BRITISH HAVE NO DOUBTS ABOUT THEIR FORMER COLONY.

BRITISH ECONOMIC ANALYSTS SAY INDIA'S NEARLY HALF A CENTURY OF DEMOCRACY GIVES IT AN EDGE IN THE LONG TERM OVER CHINA.

"IF CHINESE LEADER DENG DIES TOMORROW, NOBODY KNOWS WHAT'S GOING TO HAPPEN. IF (INDIAN PREMIER) P.V. NARASIMHA RAO DIES, INDIA WILL CARRY ON," P SECRETARY HAMISH MACLEOD.

© Inter Press Service (2014) — All Rights Reserved. Original source: Inter Press Service

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