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.