APEC business council wants free trade sooner

JAKARTA (JP): The private sector in the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum wants speedy liberalization of trade and investment among member economies.

Muchtar Mandala, a member of the APEC Business Advisory Council (ABAC) Indonesia, told journalists after meeting with President Soeharto here yesterday that the private sectors from all APEC economies consider the current deadline for liberalization as just too far off to pursue.

"There is a strong desire (among the private sectors) to speed up the liberalization process even though we already have a general timeframe for full liberalization -- 2020 for developing member economies and 2010 for developed economies," Muchtar said.

In a meeting with Soeharto, Muchtar was accompanied by the other members of ABAC Indonesia -- Bustanil Arifin and A.R. Ramly -- and advisor Dorodjatun Kuntjoro-Jakti.

ABAC is a private sector forum set up last year by the APEC summit in Osaka, Japan, to replace the Pacific Business Forum, which had advised leaders of member economies in taking liberalization actions.

ABAC recently released a report based on its meetings in Manila, Honolulu and Hong Kong entitled "APEC Means Business: Building Prosperity for Our Community".

In the finance and investment sector, ABAC recommended that each member economy take an APEC voluntary investment project, which will implement all APEC non-binding investment principles.

Muchtar explained that ABAC hopes that these pilot projects will encourage investors within and outside the APEC forum to invest more money in APEC economies.

"Foreign investors always want their investments secured, and therefore, we must increase the level of protection on foreign investment from time to time so that there will be no more insecurity, in terms of legality, transparency and possible takeover," Muchtar said.

In terms of cross-border flows, ABAC proposed that APEC economies issue APEC business visas for business people within APEC economies and provide APEC business lanes in their customs areas to speed up the clearance of goods from other APEC economies.

ABAC also proposed that APEC economies set up an APEC central registry for trademarks and patents, and establish common professional standards.

Network

Another recommendation was to establish an APEC network for small and medium enterprises, and to create a roundtable in each member economy to study the needs of small businesses.

ABAC's latest report has been presented to all leaders of APEC economies, who will meet in Manila and the northern port of Subic Bay, the Philippines, late next month.

Bustanil said that Philippine President Fidel Ramos has invited 25 business people from each member economy, including Indonesia, to participate in business meetings held along the sidelines of the APEC summit.

Indonesia, however, will send some 60 business people to Manila to participate in the business meetings and seek possible business opportunities with their counterparts from other economies.

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