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.