APEC business council calls for freer trade

APEC business council calls for freer trade

MANILA (Agencies): The APEC Business Advisory Council ended
its inaugural meeting here yesterday with a commitment to speed
up the liberalization of trade and a call for a single visa for
business travelers in the region.

Jose Luis Yulo, co-chairman of the council's cross-border
committee, said members called for a five-year waiver of national
visa requirements for business people. Instead, business people
should use a single visa for the region which would be good for
60 days and certified by the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation
forum (APEC), he said.

Robert Denham, chairman of Salomon Inc., was quoted in a
statement as saying such a system "would be a great benefit" and
would "improve the climate of business in the region."

In the meeting, the council also decided to focus on key areas
for trade liberalization, which they defined as infrastructure,
finance, investment, small and medium enterprises, human resource
development, cross-border mobility and strengthening of the APEC
community.

The council is made up of three company presidents from each
of the 18 economies within APEC. It serves as an advisory council
to APEC, providing the viewpoint of the business community.

The council chose the Philippines as the provisional host of
its secretariat.

The Business Advisory Council will hold another meeting in
Hawaii in August and in Hong Kong in September to prepare for the
APEC summit to be held in the Philippine port of Subic in
November.

APEC includes Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong
Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the
United States and the Philippines.

APEC countries, which account for some 45 percent of global
gross domestic product and 50 percent of world trade, are
committed to liberalizing trade and investment in the region by
2010 for developed economies and 2020 for the less advanced.

"Our first ABAC meeting did produce results beyond what we had
hoped for -- business-oriented, results-oriented, specific and
productive," said Minoru Mirofushi, president and chief executive
officer of Japan's ITOCHU Corp.

They set up five committees to come up with recommendations to
be presented to the APEC national leaders at their summit in
Manila in November.

One committee, chaired by Hong Kong entrepreneur Gordon Wu,
chief executive of Hopewell Holdings, will concentrate on ways to
meet Asia's massive infrastructure needs.

Another, led by Salomon Inc chairman Robert Denham, will focus
on the financial sector.

Others will focus on cross-border mobility of people and
information, fostering small and medium scale enterprises, and
developing an APEC community spirit.