APEC agenda

APEC agenda

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) was formed with
no other basic goal than to promote closer economic co-operation
among its member countries.

There are enough substantive economic issues at hand to keep
APEC relevant and busy without being sidetracked into other
matters which are best handled in other international forums and
organizations. The 14-year-old APEC is in danger of losing its
focus and, as Prime Minister Mahathir Mohamad has rightly said,
the APEC Summit in Bangkok should concentrate on fair and
equitable trade.

Expanding international commerce by itself is not enough if
the terms of trade remain desperately unequal and the interests
of developing countries are compromised in the pursuit of so-
called free trade. Developing countries do not want handouts, but
they do want and deserve a fair deal from the rich countries and
equal opportunities to acquire and nurture their technology.

Free enterprise is fine in principle, but the reality is that
the playing field is not level. APEC should find ways to reduce
the disadvantages in regional integration and trade
liberalization for its developing member countries. The small
industries and institutions in the emerging economies of APEC are
threatened by the big multinational companies as markets are
priced open indiscriminately. These are the practical issues
which should occupy the time and energy of APEC, not security,
military and political matters.

Fighting terrorism is just as important to countries in the
region as the United States. But the obsession with global
terrorism may result in APEC being inadvertently hijacked for
purposes which it is not intended for nor best equipped to do.
The irony is that the so-called breeding grounds of terrorism in
the region can be closed down if APEC's original economic-
oriented objectives succeed.

There should be a conscious effort to steer APEC back to these
founding aims. Inaction and indifference by member countries may
see APEC drift into a quasi-security and political organization
serving the agenda of a dominant power and its partners. -- New
Strait Times, Kuala Lumpur--