APEC stresses relevance amid doubts<\/p>\n
BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (Reuters): Caught off-guard by a backlash
\nagainst globalization, the Asia-Pacific's top regional grouping
\nis trying to rebrand itself as a friend of the poor and downplay
\nits role as a champion of free trade.<\/p>\n
Officials of the 21-member Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
\n(APEC) forum, in Brunei for their leaders' annual summit (this)
\nweek, say the institution must throw off its image as a tool of
\nbig business if it is to survive.<\/p>\n
They say growing doubts about the merits of globalization --
\nthe creation of a single world marketplace without tariffs or
\nother barriers to business -- threaten to put APEC seriously out
\nof step with many of its people.<\/p>\n
So the grouping is playing up its role as a vehicle for
\ndevelopment and stressing the impact its program of education,
\ntraining and technical cooperation is having on the poor and
\ndispossessed in developing countries.<\/p>\n
\"APEC is not really about committees, conventions or trade
\nsummits, it is about making a real difference to real people's
\nlives,\" Thailand's Economic Affairs Department Director-General
\nKobsak Chutikul told a news conference on Saturday.<\/p>\n
\"The ultimate objective must be development -- making people's
\nlives better in all sections of our societies.\"<\/p>\n
Established in 1989 as a forum to promote business and trade
\nacross the Pacific Rim, APEC has always had what its officials
\ncall \"three pillars\" as its core objective.<\/p>\n
It aims to speed up trade and investment liberalization, help
\nbusinesses take advantage of this liberalization by improving
\ncommunications and trading links and it promotes economic and
\ntechnical cooperation -- \"Ecotech\" in APEC jargon.<\/p>\n
Almost all attention has focused on the first of these aims --
\nthe promotion of free trade through globalization -- due to the
\nenormous size of the APEC region.<\/p>\n
APEC encompasses two-thirds of the world's population, 60
\npercent of world output and almost half the planet's trade.<\/p>\n
The forum has also been used by the United States and other
\ndeveloped countries as the main tool to advance the cause of
\nglobalization and open developing markets to their products.<\/p>\n
\"APEC is the single most important regional institution in the
\nAsia-Pacific,\" a senior U.S. official told Reuters.<\/p>\n
APEC has adopted the goal of opening trade and investment in
\nits developed economies by 2010 and developing nations by 2020.<\/p>\n
The APEC talks in Auckland in September 1999 were the final
\nspringboard for preparations for the World Trade Organization
\ntalks in Seattle in December with much time devoted to detailed
\npreparations of an Asia-Pacific agenda for a new trade round.<\/p>\n
But suddenly the climate changed.<\/p>\n
Seattle erupted in a torrent of protests against free trade
\nwith demonstrators challenging the right of developed nations to
\nforce open, as they saw it, the markets of poorer nations.<\/p>\n
Since the WTO talks collapsed and a new round of global trade
\ntalks was put on hold, opposition to globalization has become
\nmore fashionable. Within APEC, arguments against free trade that
\nwere previously suppressed have emerged.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, always reluctant to open some of its own markets and
\nsuspicious of the motives of the United States, has openly
\nquestioned the benefits of an early new round.<\/p>\n
\"I have very serious doubts about anything shaping out of
\nBrunei, because there is not yet any sign of a credible agenda
\nthat is of interest to both developed and developing countries,\"
\nMalaysian International Trade and Industry Minister Rafidah Aziz
\ntold a news conference in Kuala Lumpur on Friday.<\/p>\n
Although APEC leaders are almost certain to pledge support for
\na new round of global trade talks in their final communique on
\nNov. 16, much of the emphasis will be on other areas and will
\nstress the value of the grouping's work in human terms.<\/p>\n
The grouping will remain committed to free trade, but argue
\nthat it sees this as a means to an end: improving access to goods
\nand services and opportunities for its people.<\/p>\n
In a glossy booklet distributed in Brunei this week, APEC
\nannounces 300 Ecotech projects across the region tackling social
\nand environmental problems in many of its poorest members states.<\/p>\n
They include support for women's issues, education centers,
\nworkshops to train civil servants, cooperatives to help finance
\nagricultural projects, conservation and environmental projects.
\nPeru's ambassador to APEC, Elard Escala, says APEC has not
\nchanged, but it is adjusting its emphasis to put more stress on
\nthe impact it can have on the citizens of the Pacific Rim.<\/p>\n
\"We believe this 'third pillar' is absolutely crucial,\" he
\nsaid. \"Without this we believe we cannot reduce the disparities
\nbetween the developing and the developed world.\"<\/p>\n
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
\nKong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
\nZealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia,
\nSingapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.
\n(Chris Johnson)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/apec-stresses-relevance-amid-doubts-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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