Japan and Australia on 'same wavelength'<\/p>\n
TOKYO (AFP): Australia and Japan were "very much on the same
\nwavelength" in seeking a positive outcome to next month's summit
\nof APEC leaders in Indonesia, Australia's Foreign Minister Gareth
\nEvans said yesterday.<\/p>\n
Evans had earlier reportedly been told by Japan's
\ninternational trade and industry minister, Ryutaro Hashimoto,
\nthat Tokyo would support the goal of free trade between members
\nof the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation forum by 2020.<\/p>\n
"The government is coordinating its views towards supporting
\nthe goal," Japanese news agencies quoted Hashimoto as saying.<\/p>\n
The Australian foreign minister, speaking at a news conference
\nafter talks with Prime Minister Tomiichi Murayama, said: "What we
\nneed at the forthcoming APEC meeting is two things."<\/p>\n
Evans said the first priority was "very solid progress on the
\nmainstream APEC agenda" of regional economic cooperation,
\nespecially in the area of trade facilitation issues such as
\ninvestment guidelines and standards certification.<\/p>\n
"We want substantial movement on those fronts as part of the
\nprocess of consolidating APEC," he said.<\/p>\n
"Beyond that, secondly, we need and want to be looking for a
\nsignificant political declaration on the subject of free trade in
\nthe Pacific by a reasonably early date in the 21st century on a
\nGATT-consistent basis," he said, adding that details could be
\nworked out over the next year or two.<\/p>\n
"Australia and Japan are very much on the same wavelength when
\nit comes to those aspirations for the APEC meeting," he said. "We
\nboth believe they're realizable, although it won't be without a
\ndegree of difficulty bedding it all down between now and then and
\nat the time."<\/p>\n
Negotiations<\/p>\n
Evans said Australia was seeking to establish January next
\nyear as the "firm start-up date" for negotiations on the eventual
\nfree-trade area.<\/p>\n
"We'd certainly like, other things being equal, to have an
\nagreed standstill in terms of tariff rates operating from that
\ndate," he added.<\/p>\n
The deadline of 2020 for implementation is "very much an
\noutside date but one that we could live with if it came to that."<\/p>\n
Evans said there was a "reasonable chance" of Japanese support
\nfor such a timetable at next month's summit "provided it's left
\nto be resolved just what precisely happens thereafter."<\/p>\n
Issues<\/p>\n
Subsequent issues to be addressed include the "treatment of
\nparticular sectors, and the speeds at which particular countries
\nand particular sectors will be bound by whatever tariff reduction
\nregime is eventually agreed."<\/p>\n
"We don't expect anything much more than the first step to be
\ntaken in November and most of the issues of most sensitivity here
\nin Japan are ones that can be left for a much more detailed
\ndiscussion at a later stage," he said.<\/p>\n
Evans said he told Hashimoto that at least four broad areas
\nwould have to be examined after the APEC leaders issue their
\ndeclaration, namely product coverage, policy coverage, timing,
\nand the treatment of outsiders.<\/p>\n
"These are big complex policy issues that are going to have to
\nbe addressed," he said. "It's clearly going to take some time
\neven to negotiate the framework for the implementation of the
\ndeclaration, quite apart from what sort of a detailed tariff-
\nreduction regime, which might follow on thereafter."<\/p>\n
Evans said Japan was "on the same wavelength provided that
\nit's made clear that we're not pre-empting the discussion of all
\nthose other policy areas."<\/p>\n
APEC, set up in 1989, groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, China,
\nHong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua
\nNew Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan,
\nThailand and the United States. Chile is set to become the 18th
\nmember at next month's meeting.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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