ASEAN meet to liberalize farm trade, boost supplies<\/p>\n
SINGAPORE (Reuter): ASEAN agriculture ministers opened talks
\nhere yesterday to include farm products in the region's free
\ntrade plan and design ways to ensure a stable food supply for the
\nregion's 500 million people.<\/p>\n
Delegates said the ministers would push for minimal tariffs
\nfor at least 60 percent for the commodities traded in the region
\nfrom 1996 but keep out those so-called sensitive ones such as
\nrice, sugar and coconut oil.<\/p>\n
The reductions would be part of the ASEAN Free Trade Area
\n(AFTA) plan targeted to be implemented by 2003. Under the scheme,
\nwhich kicked off in 1993 starting with manufactured items,
\ntariffs will be cut to between zero and five percent by 2003.<\/p>\n
ASEAN members other than Singapore and Brunei are major rice,
\nsugar and coconut growers, and some are major exporters as well.
\nASEAN, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, groups Brunei,
\nIndonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and
\nnewcomer Vietnam.<\/p>\n
Delegates said governments feared that opening up doors to
\nrice or sugar imports would hurt small farmers and jeopardize
\nfledgling agro-based industries.<\/p>\n
The August 24-26 meeting is expected to confirm the list of
\nagricultural products to be included in AFTA's Common Effective
\nPreferential Tariff (CEPT) regime, delegates said.<\/p>\n
Inclusion<\/p>\n
Malaysia's Agriculture Minister Sulaiman Daud told the meeting
\nthat Kuala Lumpur backed the inclusion of unprocessed
\nagricultural products in the CEPT scheme to bolster intra-ASEAN
\ntrade but said more time should be given to items as such as
\ntobacco which it considered as \"sensitive\".<\/p>\n
Malaysia has offered a total of 511 items for immediate
\ninclusion into the scheme, he said.<\/p>\n
Sulaiman said the inclusion of sensitive products would
\n\"affect the livelihood of our farmers and our efforts towards
\ndownstream processing of agricultural commodities as well as
\ndevelopment of resource-based industries in member countries\".<\/p>\n
He said member states should be allowed to decide on their
\ninclusion on the basis of affordability.<\/p>\n
Indonesian officials said they would propose that ASEAN set a
\nfive-year target from 1998 to allow commodities temporarily
\nsheltered from tariff cuts to graduate into the CEPT regime.<\/p>\n
Indonesia has said it plans to exclude 26 products from tariff
\nreductions to shield small farmers from cheaper imports.<\/p>\n
Singapore's National Development Minister Lim Nhg Kiang said
\nat the opening ceremony that the meeting was expected to find
\nways to cut the number of commodities being excluded from the
\ntariff reductions.<\/p>\n
He also said urgent measures must be taken to raise the
\nregion's food supplies to feed growing populations in view of
\nshrinking farmland.<\/p>\n
\"We must quickly find ways to improve productivity and
\nincrease output in the agriculture sector,\" he said.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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