APEC forum agrees to publish deregulation reports
APEC forum agrees to publish deregulation reports
FUKUOKA, Japan (AFP): The Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum has agreed to publish reports to show the private sector the economic deregulatory steps taken by members, officials said yesterday.
The agreement among senior APEC officials followed an Indonesian proposal submitted late last year to the 18-member group's trade and investment committee, currently chaired by South Korea, they said.
"Members agreed that it would be useful to have the reports on deregulation measures taken by member economies compiled and disseminated to the business community," the officials said in a report summarizing their three-day meeting here to prepare for this year's summit in Osaka.
The report said the move could be considered as a "downpayment" in the context of trade liberalization. APEC leaders last year called on industrialized members of the group to liberalize trade and investment in the region by 2010, with developing economies following no later than 2020.
One member of the trade and investment committee said the group hoped to work out a "consistent reporting format" for all members to follow in listing the unilateral steps taken to deregulate their economies.
He said a comprehensive report would then be published by the APEC secretariat in Singapore, showing the measures taken by all members, with the first issue hopefully available by the end of this year.
"It's an attempt to describe clearly where we are and where we're going," said the official, who asked not to be named.
Among APEC members, Indonesia and Thailand have been particularly active in deregulating their economies in recent times. Economic deregulation has also become one of the top priorities for the current Japanese cabinet although little progress has been made so far.
While details of the plan have yet to be worked out, the official said members might offer to report, for example, details of tariff-cutting measures or liberalization of services, which go beyond their commitments in the Uruguay Round of global trade negotiations ratified last year.
Infrastructure
The officials also agreed to launch a special dialog with the private sector on regional infrastructure problems.
The officials said the dialog would be held before October, identifying problems and taking stock of regional infrastructure, especially in the areas of telecommunications, transport and energy.
The agreement to accept Indonesia's proposal for the dialog came during the first round of talks between senior APEC officials this week to prepare for the group's annual ministerial meeting and summit in Osaka in November.
APEC members were urged to comment on the Indonesian plan by the end of April before the second round of talks in Sapporo in July.
Indonesia proposed identifying infrastructure bottlenecks and assessing the current and potential contributions of the private sector by May, in addition to looking at problems with investment in such areas.
The proposal called for "strong business sector" involvement in the dialogue with as many as two people from each of the 18 members of APEC along with representatives of the Pacific Business Forum, officials said.
An official from one APEC country said the dialogue would be overseen by Canada, the current chairman of the group's newly- formed economic committee, with input from related ministers and working groups.
APEC already plans to hold talks between telecommunications ministers in South Korea at the end of May, while the United States is hosting a meeting of transport ministers and related business representatives in June.
Canada is hosting a meeting of APEC's telecommunications working group next week. In addition, China is holding talks between members of the APEC transportation group in April followed by a meeting of the regional energy cooperation group in May.
Japan is meanwhile hosting an experts meeting on energy forecasts in April, grouping both the public and private sectors.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, the Philippines, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.