Waiting for stronger signal<\/p>\n
The results of the APEC Ministerial Meeting may come as a
\nmajor disappointment especially to businessmen who from the
\noutset have focused their attention on the proposed timetable for
\nfree trade and investment liberalization in the region. After
\nall, the expectations for something bolder and ambitious had been
\nbuilt up since August as soon as Indonesia, one of the least
\ndeveloped among APEC's 18 economies, expressed a strong
\ncommitment to an accelerated process of free trade and
\ninvestment liberalization in the region.<\/p>\n
Indeed, as APEC requires more clearly-defined guidelines for
\nits future direction to maintain the forum's momentum, we did
\nexpect the trade and foreign ministers to come out with something
\nmore concrete than simply \"welcoming the report of the Eminent
\nPersons Group (EPG)\" as they said in their joint statement issued
\nat the end of their meeting on Saturday afternoon.<\/p>\n
But our expectations are not entirely dashed as of yet.<\/p>\n
Since the ministerial meeting had no relation with the second
\nAPEC Economic Leaders Meeting at Bogor on Tuesday, in the sense
\nthat the ministers did not prepare any agenda for that
\nconference, the task of providing a more positive and stronger
\nsignal about APEC's future direction now falls on the leaders who
\nwill be meeting in Bogor. We are still optimistic because the EPG
\nproposals for APEC's future directions in trade liberalization,
\ninvestment and trade facilitation and technical cooperation will
\nbe among the main topics to be discussed by the leaders.<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, the question now is: Did the outcome of the
\nministerial meeting really fall so short of expectations?<\/p>\n
After perusing the 72-point joint statement and taking into
\naccount the great diversity of the interests of the APEC member
\neconomies, in view of the widely differing stages of their
\neconomic development, one is bound to have second thoughts about
\nthe said failure of that outcome. Judging from the delicate
\nprocess of dialogs and the difficulty in wrapping up mutually
\nbeneficial agreements among so diverse a group of economies, the
\nagreements and commitments concluded by the ministers actually
\nare not so disappointing.<\/p>\n
Among the impressive items are the agreements on some concrete
\nprograms or commitments, including the endorsement of the Non-
\nBinding Investment Principles, the adoption of a declaration on
\nhuman resource development, the advancement of programs in
\nstandards and conformance, as well as customs procedures, and in
\nsmall and medium enterprise development. These commitments and
\nprograms, we think, are a step forward toward further improving
\nthe climate for investment and trade.<\/p>\n
It is also encouraging to note that the ministers took another
\nstep forward in the institutionalization process of the APEC
\nforum, as reflected in the decision to set up a new permanent
\ncommittee (Economic Committee) and a task force to look into ways
\nof strengthening the APEC Secretariat in Singapore. As APEC now
\nhas 10 working groups, three permanent committees and several
\nother task forces or policy study groups, a stronger secretariat
\nis needed to coordinate and support those activities.<\/p>\n
Now that the process of vigorous dialogs has been stepped up
\nacross many sectors of economic cooperation through the working
\ngroups and task forces, and now that concrete working programs
\nhave been launched in several areas, it has become even more
\nimperative for APEC to carefully set out clear guidelines for its
\nfuture directions and to set out its goals as basic guidance to
\nall those activities.<\/p>\n
We hope these guidelines will be provided by the APEC leaders,
\nwho will be meeting in Bogor, to implement the Economic Vision
\nStatement they issued in Seattle last year.<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/waiting-for-stronger-signal-1447893297",
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"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
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