APEC finance ministers to focus on stability

APEC finance ministers to focus on stability

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (AFP): An Asia-Pacific finance ministers
meeting in Brunei this week, scheduled to focus on securing
economic stability, will have a strong undercurrent of
revitalizing APEC's reputation, officials say.

The financial heavyweights from the 21-member Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation forum will meet here from Thursday in a
four-day think tank that has been saddled with the reputation of
an ineffectual talkfest.

And despite the full APEC leaders' summit in November carrying
the theme of "making APEC matter more," the organization
acknowledges that with the worst of the 1997 financial crisis
behind it, there are few headline grabbing issues this year.

"Right now it's more of a talk shop," said a regional
economist at a European bank who preferred not to be named.

"They will probably discuss the need to work closer but don't
expect any concrete proposals."

APEC, slammed by some economic observers as losing relevance
as an economic grouping, admits to struggling to find core common
topics in the forthcoming meeting.

No official agenda has been publicly released but topics will
include training for financial regulators, the stability of the
financial system and the promotion of free and stable capital
flows among member economies, an APEC media official told AFP.

Indonesia, still struggling to steer its battered economy out
of the doldrums, is expected to be under the spotlight after the
swearing in of its new cabinet dominated by people close to
President Abdurrahman Wahid and from the military, observers
said.

Although APEC may have mounted a relentless bid to open up
trade, officials readily admit a lack of effort in getting the
message across to the public.

"We're basically saying we haven't done enough, that's why we
have to push it," said Lim Jock Seng, a senior foreign ministry
official in Brunei which holds the APEC chair.

"We want to spread APEC further, to the young businessmen,
women in business, the youth ... the question is, how do we do
it?"

There are concerns that member countries, lulled by a sense of
complacency that economic fundamentals are back to pre-crisis
levels, would let slip the opportunity to map out a cohesive
framework to avert a crisis similar to that of 1997.

Eisuke Sakakibara, Japan's former vice minister of finance who
was once called "Mr Yen" for his influence in financial markets,
said the regional recovery should not mask the need for a defense
mechanism.

He said complacency in the U.S. and Asia was dangerous, and
called for accelerated efforts to strengthen banking and
financial systems and corporate governance.

Observers said that would a near-to-impossible task to achieve
given the members' differing views on what exactly was needed.

As part of a defense mechanism, Sakakibara called for the
setting-up of an Asian Monetary Fund, although idea has
previously met stiff resistance from the U.S.

The fund, first proposed during the Asian crisis by Japan, was
opposed by the U.S. and European countries on worries it could
undermine the authority of the International Monetary Fund.

The Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation forum groups Australia,
Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South
Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the
Philippines, Russia, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, the United
States and Vietnam.