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.