APEC: Free Trade Is the Mantra But How ? (1) An Inter Press Service Feature

JAKARTA, Nov 11 (IPS) - Freer trade remains the battlecry of the member economies of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), but the mechanics of how and when remain tough questions that even their ministers on Friday found difficult to grapple with.

Speaking at the start of their two-day meeting, several APEC ministers said they would leave the ticklish political question of deciding on a timetable for freer trade to heads of government who will meet in Bogor on Nov. 15.

But they expressed a range of concerns related to how 18 economies across the Pacific Rim, with different political and economic cultures, could set out on a common path to in effect go beyond the arrangements under the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT).

The free-trade timetable would bind APEC economies to reducing tariffs beyond the 30 to 40 per cent levels envisioned under GATT up to the year 2005.

Calls by the Eminent Persons Group and the Pacific Business Forum, both advisory bodies to APEC, for a free trade area to be in place by 2010 or 2020 have not been received uniformly by member economies though it is to be the main theme at Bogor. Efforts are still underway to try to set a single completion date for free trade in the Asia-Pacific.

Malaysia has remained the major sceptic, but other countries, like the U.S., Canada, New Zealand and Australia, favor a timetable.

China has been perceived as having doubts about the wisdom of setting a timetable. But Foreign Minister Qian Qichen said otherwise during the ministers' meeting, though he made a pitch for developing countries' needs.

"As the levels of economic development of APEC members are widely different, we support President Suharto's proposal that the timetable be drawn up in the light of the diverse conditions," Qian said.

Perhaps, Thai Deputy Prime Minister Supachai Panitchapakdi said, "instead of setting a definite timeframe which tends to scare off people, an indicative timeframe should be contemplated." A Bogor timetable would be more of a target than a deadline.

Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans said: "It is essential in our view that there be a specific date identified if any commitment made is to be seen as real."

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