APEC finishes draft list for liberalization

APEC finishes draft list for liberalization

By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat

VANCOUVER, Canada (JP): Senior officials of the Asia Pacific
Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum have finalized a draft list of
15 sectors, including automotive and chemicals, to be selected
for early liberalization.

The list of 15 sectors, under the Early Voluntary Sectoral
Liberalization (EVSL) scheme, was trimmed down from an initial
inventory of 61.

The 15 sectors are: toys, fish and fishery products,
environmental goods and services, forestry products, gems and
jewelry, oilseed and oilseed products, chemicals,
telecommunications, energy, food, rubber, fertilizers,
automotive, medical equipment and civil aircraft.

But delegates here admitted the draft list remained a point of
contention and would have to go through further debate before it
was made into a final package by APEC ministers when they meet
here tomorrow.

Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto
will lead the Indonesian delegation at the two-day APEC
ministerial meeting.

The head of the Indonesian delegation at yesterday's meeting,
Soemadi Brotodiningrat, admitted that Indonesia did not support
all the sectors on the list.

"I've said that Indonesia cannot accept the automotive sector.
We aren't ready," said Soemadi, who is director general of
foreign economic relations at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.

Delegates at the meeting revealed that the United States was
the main sponsor behind the automotive sector's inclusion. The
proposal was supported by Australia, Canada, Japan, Korea, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Singapore.

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

The forum aims to break down trade and investment barriers by
2010 for developed countries and 2020 for developing ones.

The process of liberalization has been laid out by respective
members' Individual Action Plans, but APEC leaders in their
summit last year ordered ministers to further identify sectors
for early liberalization.

Leonard Edwards, head of the Canadian delegation, said
yesterday the selection of the final draft list of 15 sectors was
based on several elements, such as the level of support, share in
international and APEC markets, and economic impact.

Some delegates attending the meeting questioned the final
list, which they said was drawn up based more on the level of
support rather than the readiness of the economies.

"Some are challenging how the host came up with the conclusion
of the final list," one Asian delegate said.

Soemadi admitted that "some were still unsatisfied".

When asked, Soemadi said Indonesia had initially forwarded
three sectors -- fish and fishery products, pulp and paper and
sports footwear.

Sports footwear did not gain support, while pulp and paper was
incorporated into forestry products.

"Footwear received little support ... it is quite evident that
Indonesia is very competitive in this sector and those who aren't
ready are afraid of being flooded by our imports," Soemadi
remarked.

He said among the 15 sectors Indonesia supported were oilseed,
toys and gems and jewelry. But for the latter two, Indonesia
accepted them with some reservations.

Soemadi expressed hope that when the ministers drew up the
final list of sectors for early liberalization, it would take
into account the concerns of developing countries.

"When the final list comes out as a package, then we'll have
to accept the ones that we're not ready for," he said.

According to Soemadi, members of the Association of Southeast
Asian Nations (ASEAN) were supportive but cautious with the EVSL
program and urged APEC not to be hasty in the scheme given the
current economic turmoil afflicting the region.

"We (Indonesia) are not overly aggressive about (EVSL) ...
we're rather cautious and other ASEAN members are the same,
except for Singapore," he said.

The ASEAN members in APEC are Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the
Philippines, Singapore and Thailand.

During the discussions yesterday senior officials also touched
on issues of infrastructure development and ways of intensifying
economic and technical cooperation.

The senior officials' meeting and a ministerial meeting will
culminate into a two-day leaders summit, which begins Monday.