Soeharto urges faster trade liberalization<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): President Soeharto opened the Sixth Ministerial
\nMeeting of APEC yesterday on a note of hope for an accelerated
\nprocess of trade and investment liberalization among its 18
\nmember economies.<\/p>\n
"Should we decide to take further steps to liberalize trade
\nand investment among us, we should confirm it in the APEC
\nEconomic Leaders' meeting on Nov.15 at Bogor," the 73-year old
\nPresident, and this year's APEC chairman, told the foreign and
\ntrade ministers at the State Palace.<\/p>\n
The two-day ministerial conference of 18 economies that
\naccount for around 50 percent of the world's output and trade was
\npreceded by working group, committee and senior officials
\nmeetings since Nov.3.<\/p>\n
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
\nKong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New
\nGuinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Chinese Taipei,
\nThailand and the United States.<\/p>\n
Soeharto devoted a great portion of his opening address to the
\ncrucial importance of trade and investment liberalization, which
\nhe feels will give more substance to the five-year old Asia
\nPacific Economic Cooperation forum.<\/p>\n
He noted that economic dynamism in the Asia- Pacific region
\nover the past few decades has been generated by trade and
\ninvestment liberalization.<\/p>\n
"Therefore, we will continue to promote and facilitate the
\nflow of investment and trade for ourselves and for other
\nregions," added the President, who is also the Chairman of the
\n108-member Non-Aligned Movement.<\/p>\n
He reaffirmed the role of the open market system to
\nsignificantly improve the flow of international trade and
\ninvestment in the region.<\/p>\n
"All these efforts have brought a level of economic growth
\nnever achieved before to our region," added Soeharto. The
\npresident has been hailed internationally for the massive
\nderegulation measures and sound macro-economic policies that have
\nfueled highly respectable economic growth in the world's fourth
\nmost populous country.<\/p>\n
He described how free and open trade has been encouraging
\nsignificant investment among APEC member themselves and from
\ninvestors in other regions.<\/p>\n
"We should nurture these developments properly so as to ensure
\nthe acceleration of trade growth in our region," said the
\nIndonesian President, currently in his sixth consecutive five-
\nyear term.<\/p>\n
Domination<\/p>\n
Trade and investment liberalization will dominate the agenda
\nof the second APEC leaders meeting at Bogor on Tuesday. The main
\ntopics of their talks on those issues are the recommendations
\nfrom the Eminent Persons Group and the Pacific Business Forum.<\/p>\n
The Eminent Persons Group, in its second report to APEC
\nleaders which was presented to Soeharto in August, recommends
\nthat APEC members adopt trade and investment liberalization fully
\nby the year 2020.<\/p>\n
The Pacific Business Forum, the private sector think tank set
\nup last November by the APEC leaders themselves during their
\nfirst summit on Blake Island, the United States, came up with an
\neven bolder, more ambitious target--recommending free trade in
\nthe region by the year 2010.<\/p>\n
The President cautioned, however, that any cooperation within
\nAPEC should take into account the diversity of economic
\ndevelopment among its members.<\/p>\n
"We can overcome the diversity in APEC economies through
\ncooperation based on partnership," he said.<\/p>\n
He also assured other countries outside the region that APEC
\nwas never designed to evolve as an exclusive and closed trading
\nbloc.<\/p>\n
Instead, he added, APEC members have adopted concrete measures
\nto reach the establishment of open, free and fair global trade.<\/p>\n
In this context, the President recalled the results of the
\nrecent meeting of APEC trade ministers here last month when they
\nreaffirmed their strong commitment to having the speedy
\nratification of the World Trade Organization.<\/p>\n
Soeharto proudly informed the ministers that Indonesia itself,
\nby Law No.7\/1994 of Nov.2, 1994, has ratified the establishment
\nof WTO which is scheduled to start functioning early next year to
\nreplace the old General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade.(emb\/vin)<\/p>\n
APEC News -- Page 2\/3\/5<\/p>\n
Well or ill -- Page 4<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/soeharto-urges-faster-trade-liberalization-1447893297", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }