Keating will be the key to APEC accord in Osaka<\/p>\n
CANBERRA (Agencies): Australian Prime Minister Paul Keating
\nwill play a key role in heading off a bid by four Asian economies
\nto exclude farm trade from a free trade blueprint at the upcoming
\nAPEC summit, Trade Minister Bob McMullan predicted yesterday.<\/p>\n
Leaders from the 18-member Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
\nforum will begin efforts in Osaka, Japan, next week to advance
\nthe commitment made in Bogor, Indonesia, last year to scrapping
\nbarriers to regional free trade by 2020.<\/p>\n
But farm trade currently looms as the biggest obstacle to an
\naccord and, according to some countries, even threatens the
\nfuture of APEC.<\/p>\n
Australia and the United States are among a group of countries
\ninsisting the free-trade program must be comprehensive with no
\nexclusions while this year's host nation Japan, along with China,
\nSouth Korea and Taiwan want special treatment for politically
\nsensitive agriculture sectors.<\/p>\n
U.S. officials are reported here to have told their Australian
\ncounterparts that Keating would have to live up to his \"spark
\nplug\" reputation and play a critical role in finding a
\nsettlement.<\/p>\n
\"There are some things that only leaders can break through,\"
\nMcMullan told reporters here.<\/p>\n
\"He's an effective operator,\" McMullan added. \"Our position is
\nwell served by having him there.<\/p>\n
McMullan reiterated Australia's threat to refuse to sign any
\nagreement at Osaka that excluded agriculture from free trade
\nplans.<\/p>\n
\"It's hard to conceive of a circumstance in which an
\nAustralian prime minister ... would sign an agreement which
\nexcluded agriculture when we'd spent 40 years trying to get it on
\nthe international trade agenda,\" he said.<\/p>\n
APEC leaders agreed at Bogor to eliminate trade barriers by
\n2010 with developing nations following 10 years later.<\/p>\n
In Tokyo, Hiromoto Seki, Japan's ambassador in charge of the
\nAPEC forum, told reporters yesterday that Japan is firmly
\ncommitted to the forum's pact to axe barriers to trade and
\ninvestment by 2020, but wants sensitive sectors to be given
\nspecial treatment.<\/p>\n
\"...Some sensitive sectors deserve different treatment within
\nthe spirit of the Bogor Declaration,\" he said.<\/p>\n
\"We are already committed to liberalizing agricultural
\nsectors. But the way the agricultural sector is going to be
\nliberalized should be different from that of other sectors,\" Seki
\nsaid.<\/p>\n
\"We hope this matter will be resolved at our level preferably,
\nbut if unavoidable, at a ministerial level.\"<\/p>\n
In Seoul, a senior government official said yesterday that
\nSouth Korea will insist on its demand for special treatment for
\nfarm trade when APEC leaders meet next week.<\/p>\n
Ban Ki-moon, deputy foreign minister for policy planning, told
\nreporters that such highly sensitive areas should be treated
\ndifferently when liberalizing trade.<\/p>\n
\"We believe the agricultural sector should be treated
\ndifferently as it is intrinsically different from other sectors,\"
\nBan said.<\/p>\n
\"We will be flexible but it is our firm position that there
\nshould be due consideration to highly sensitive areas.\"<\/p>\n
He said South Korea was committed to continuing its efforts to
\nremove tariff and non-tariff barriers as agreed in the Uruguay
\nRound of the General Agreement of Tariffs and Trade (GATT).<\/p>\n
Nearly 70 percent of South Korea's total trade is with APEC
\nmembers and about 80 percent of South Korea's investment is in
\nAPEC nations, he added.<\/p>",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
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