APEC free trade plan needs private sector help

APEC free trade plan needs private sector help

By Endy M. Bayuni

OSAKA, Japan (JP): The success of APEC's plan to move towards
a free trade zone in the Asia-Pacific hinges to a large extent on
support from the private sector, Indonesia's Coordinating
Minister for Industry and Trade Hartarto said on Saturday.

Speaking at a symposium on the Asia-Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum, Hartarto said the benefit of trade
liberalization "will be rendered more effective if the private
sectors among the APEC members create synergy."

"Private sector participation in the APEC process should not
be focused merely on its direct involvement in APEC fora, but
also directed in promoting synergy among business players in the
region," he said.

The one-day symposium was jointly organized by the Pacific
Economic Cooperation Council and the Pacific Basin Economic
Council, both institutions that have contributed to the
development of APEC and its programs.

On Sunday, APEC leaders meeting here were scheduled to endorse
an "Action Agenda" setting out the details of how APEC's 18
members plan to go about in moving towards establishing a region
of free trade by the year 2020 at the latest.

One of the outcomes of last week's APEC ministerial conference
was a plan to establish an APEC Business Advisory Council which
will formally bring the private sector into the APEC's processes
for the first time.

"With the adoption of the 'Action Agenda' ... the
participation of the business sectors in the APEC process even
becomes more urgent than ever before," Hartarto said.

He also pointed out that greater synergy among APEC's private
sectors would also help the effort in narrowing economic
disparities among APEC members and lead to better allocation of
economic resources within the region.

Australian Foreign Minister Gareth Evans, in the same
symposium, said APEC has spent the last six years on exchanging
information, analyzing issues, formulating objectives and
crafting frameworks for action.

"None of that time has been wasted; none of that effort was
unnecessary. But it is now time to really start getting the runs
on the board -- delivering the benefits which APEC is eminently
capable of generating," Evans said.

Gains

He said Australia has conducted studies estimating the
potential gains to be had from trade liberalization and
facilitation measures and found that:

* The aggregate income of the region will increase by 3.8
percent, or US$745 billion, which is more than the combined
current size of Australia's and Korea's economies, more than 10
times Malaysia's and more than a half of China's.

* Trade facilitation alone will increase aggregate income in
the region by 2.2 percent, or $442 billion.

Acknowledging that some may have doubts about the assumptions
used in the economic projections, Evans said "Nobody should be in
any doubt that there will be benefits, they will be very large
indeed and they will be shared by all of us."

Japanese Minister of International Trade and Industry Ryutaro
Hashimoto in his address promised the business community in APEC
that trade liberalization is just the start and that other
measures that will assist in their business are on the way.

Among examples of works, or study, now underway in APEC,
include the possibility of providing a single multiple-visa for
the entire APEC region, or the same documentation for patent
protection for all APEC countries, a single product standard
certification and a single Internet site providing tariff
schedules for different products throughout the region.

"Of course, we cannot do all of this overnight. Yet having
been involved in the APEC process over the last year, I can tell
you that there are already people working on things like this.

"And I can promise you that the Asia-Pacific region will be
radically different in five or 10 years from what it is now in
terms of business and personal mobility," Hashimoto said.