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.