APEC forms counter-terrorism task force

APEC forms counter-terrorism task force

Agence France-Presse, Bangkok

The 21 countries in the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC)
have established a task force to oversee the implementation of
measures to protect the region from terrorist attacks, APEC said
Monday.

The task force will help economies access information and
resources required for counter-terrorism measures and cooperate
with other international organizations on counter-terrorism
issues, it said in a statement.

"Specific areas include protecting cargoes and ships engaged
in international voyages, protecting international aviation,
protecting people in transit as well as halting the financing of
terrorism," it said.

"The counter-terrorism task force will also be active in
promoting cyber security, energy security and the security of the
food and water supply and other infrastructure in our
communities."

APEC secretariat executive director Piamsak Milintachinda said
in the statement that counter-terrorism measures "should also be
seen as an investment that will pay future dividends through
reduced risk premiums and increased trade efficiency."

About 300 representatives of the 21 APEC economies and the
private sector started a two-day meeting in Bangkok Monday to
discuss ways in which investment in counter-terrorism measures
could also make trade more efficient.

APEC, the main forum for boosting trade and investment in the
Asia-Pacific region, groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile,
China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New
Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia,
Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and
Vietnam.

"This investment will yield significant returns, not only in
reducing the economic costs of terrorism... but also in creating
new efficiencies in the movement of goods and people," U.S.
ambassador to APEC Larry Greenwood told the meeting.

The costs of the initiative had not been collated, Greenwood
told reporters, stressing though the high cost of terrorism.

"Terrorism undermines investor confidence and results in
falling investment, it raises the risk premium of doing business
in a country... and it can result in more exchange rate
volatility," he said.

And in the case of Indonesia, for example, the October Bali
bombing in which 202 people were killed was partly to blame for a
2.2 percent fall in tourist arrivals in 2002, an Australian
report circulated at the meeting said.

"As tourism accounts for 3.4 percent of Indonesia's GDP,
financial market analysts place the expected cost of lost tourist
receipts at around one percent of Indonesia's GDP," it said.

Greenwood said: "By addressing terrorism not only do you get
the benefit of more certainty, more stability, more investor
confidence, the measures... also facilitate trade.

"So by investing in these steps we can realize faster trade,
we can realize more efficiency, higher productivity in the way
that goods and people move in the region."

So while counter-terrorism investments may see initial price
increases they will pay off, he said.