APEC business council wants free trade sooner

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)