Asia awaits gains from WTO reforms<\/p>\n
Reuters, Sydney\/Tokyo<\/p>\n
Asia is warily counting expected region-wide gains from big
\ndecisions by the World Trade Organization (WTO) to launch a round
\nof global trade reform negotiations and to admit China and Taiwan
\nas members.<\/p>\n
A Reuters survey of government and trade opinions across Asia
\nshows payoffs are expected by poverty-mired developing countries
\nthrough to rich industrial giants led by Japan.<\/p>\n
\"The entry of China and Taiwan into the WTO means two large
\nmarkets will be open to foreign competition. It is basically
\npositive for the Asian economy overall,\" said Akio Shibata, chief
\neconomist at Japanese trading house Marubeni Corp's research
\ninstitute.<\/p>\n
The growing consensus is that WTO's Doha decisions two weeks
\nago provide enough meat for gains by all countries of the region.<\/p>\n
For most developing countries, inclusion of farm trade in a
\nreform round for the first time since the groundbreaking 1994
\nUruguay Round offers enough prospective export gains to outweigh
\nthreats to domestic industries from freer trade, analysts say.<\/p>\n
For developed countries, such as Japan, there are also gains.
\nLike Korea, the second most industrialized Asian country, Japan
\nis digging in to save its politically loaded rice sector from the
\nextra imports which farm trade reform might bring.<\/p>\n
But Japan's greater need is the industrial energy which a
\ncontrolled opening of China to foreign investment would provide.
\nIt might have to compromise on rice, Shibata said.<\/p>\n
Australia, whose A$30 billion (US$15.6 billion) a year worth
\nof unsubsidized exports of grains, sugar and other farm produce
\nbattle state-assisted exports around the world, is geographical
\nAsia's most clear-cut winner from Doha.<\/p>\n
Gains are also seen by developing Asian economies, from
\nIndonesia to India.<\/p>\n
\"Our products (will be able to) compete with imported
\nproducts, which have been cheaper because of subsidies,\"
\nIndonesia's Trade and Industry Minister Rini Soewandi said.<\/p>\n
For Indonesia, palm oil, a basis for margarine and cooking
\noils around the world, is an important example of expected gains.<\/p>\n
China's imports under WTO entry conditions will rise to 2.4
\nmillion tons in 2002 from 1.5 million tons this year.<\/p>\n
\"It's a great opportunity for us to catch a growing Chinese
\nmarket,\" Derom Bangun, chairman of the Indonesian Palm Oil
\nProducers Association, whose members provide 25 percent of
\nChina's imports, told Reuters in Jakarta.<\/p>\n
Malaysia, the world's largest producer which exported 1.02
\nmillion tons to China in 2000, sees similar gains.<\/p>\n
Increased exports to China are seen extending virtually across
\nthe farm good range, from grains to sugar to soybeans.<\/p>",
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