APEC grapples for leadership role, but problems remain<\/p>\n
Elisia Yeo, Agence France-Presse\/Busan, South Korea<\/p>\n
APEC has staked a claim for a global leadership role providing a
\ncounterweight to the European Union, but analysts warn its
\nefforts are doomed to failure without radical reform.<\/p>\n
Atop the list of problems facing the 21-member Asia-Pacific
\nEconomic Cooperation (APEC) forum after last week's summit in
\nSouth Korea is the plethora of sometimes competing free trade
\nagreements (FTAs) among members.<\/p>\n
APEC has long insisted that FTAs boost the cause of global
\nfree trade, and the two-day meeting in the South Korean port of
\nBusan saw a raft of new announcements.<\/p>\n
China and Chile signed a free trade deal, while Canada and
\nJapan, Chile and Japan and the United States and Southeast Asian
\nnations all made preliminary moves which could result in
\nagreements.<\/p>\n
But analysts and business leaders say the \"spaghetti bowl\" of
\nagreements with widely differing rules and standards are causing
\nconfusion.<\/p>\n
\"Politicians like to sign agreements, it makes them look good
\nat home,\" said Richard Drobnick from the Marshall School of
\nBusiness at the University of Southern California.<\/p>\n
\"They won't have a tremendous economic effect but they will
\nhave a confusing effect, because when you try to figure out what
\nthe rules are ... it's hard for the business people to think
\nexactly 'what's my net advantage in going here or going there?'\"
\nhe said.<\/p>\n
Business leaders have blamed the abundance of FTAs on the
\nvirtual standstill in multilateral talks and say progress at next
\nmonth's World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting in Hong Kong is
\nvital.<\/p>\n
While business executives recognize economies will not stop
\nsigning bilateral or regional trade accords, they say APEC must
\ntry to standardize agreements or risk irrelevance.<\/p>\n
\"If they don't get us all together, and we don't come up with
\na common take or template for FTAs, then it will always be like
\nthis. And that is distressing,\" said Roberto Romulo, a Philippine
\nbusinessman who advises APEC.<\/p>\n
Analysts also say APEC's goal of open trade and investment in
\nthe Asia-Pacific region for developed economies by 2010 and for
\ndeveloping economies by 2020 is behind schedule.<\/p>\n
Privately, officials and business executives grumble at the
\norganization's sleepy pace and express doubts about its ability
\nto act effectively, given its consensus structure and non-binding
\nagreements.<\/p>\n
Romulo said APEC had been unable to adequately respond to
\nproblems such as the Asian economic crisis of the late 1990s.<\/p>\n
\"That's one issue that needs to be addressed. Are we really
\nresponsive? The fact that we're non-binding -- should we be
\nbinding? That's the other question. And security, is there a role
\nfor security in APEC?\" said Romulo.<\/p>\n
Despite the complaints, many agree APEC can wield useful
\npolitical clout by bringing together such heavyweights as the
\nUnited States, Japan, Russia and China under one roof.<\/p>\n
The chief executive officer of steel and iron maker CAP SA in
\nChile, Jaime Charles, said APEC could still carve out a role as a
\ncounterweight to Europe and the tendency for regional trading
\nblocs.<\/p>\n
He pointed to the political pressure APEC put on Europe last
\nweek to make concessions on farm subsidies ahead of next month's
\nWTO ministerial meeting.<\/p>\n
\"You need someone like APEC to work and to make these strong
\nstatements, to work towards multilateral trade for progress to be
\nmade,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"The European Union doesn't move on its own. You need to move
\nthem, and to move them you need to have this big counterpart.\"<\/p>\n
APEC also provides a forum for friendly member countries to
\npolitely nudge each other in ways they would not in the larger
\nWTO arena.<\/p>\n
\"It all goes to peer pressure,\" said the chief economist with
\nthe General Motors Corporation, G Mustafa Mohatarem.<\/p>\n
\"The U.S. doesn't necessarily want to pressure Japan -- that's
\nin the WTO context -- to change its agricultural policy,\" he
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"But through the APEC process you indirectly do that.\"<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/apec-grapples-for-leadership-role-but-problems-remain-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }