APEC leaders are set to turn dream into reality

APEC leaders are set to turn dream into reality

By Endy M. Bayuni

Everything's a dream; Man's ambition is a dream of dreams; With a big Osaka in my mind, I must disappear like dew. Excerpt from a farewell tanka (31 syllable poem) by Hideyoshi Toyotomi -- the first overlord to unify Japan in the late 16th century after more than 100 years of anarchy and civil wars -- on his deathbed.

OSAKA, Japan (JP): Some call it a vision, others call it an ambitious goal.

If the above excerpt, found on an ornamental screen which is one of the many exhibits in the Osaka Castle, is an indication, APEC's free trade plan may be the dream of dreams.

Whether it becomes a reality will, to some extend, be determined this Sunday in the castle, which was first built by the composer of the poem.

Leaders of the 18 members of the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum will gather here tomorrow to discuss ways of further bolstering the prosperity of their 2.1 billion peoples by phasing out cross border trade barriers.

The Osaka Castle, or more precisely the two-story guest house in the castle's compound, is the venue of the third informal meeting of APEC leaders, or a "retreat" as the summit has come to be called.

The APEC leaders are due to endorse a blue print on how they intend to turn the Asia-Pacific, already recognized as the fastest growing region in the world, into a free trade zone in the next 25 years.

The "Action Agenda", as the document is officially called, has already been deliberated, debated and crafted by their ministers and senior officials over the past year. A consensus on the agenda was only struck on Thursday after long and difficult negotiations.

Nobody said it was going to be easy, given the tremendous diversity and cultural differences between APEC's 18 members, from the tiny island state of Singapore and the sultanate of Brunei, to three of the world's four largest nations: China, the United States and Indonesia.

Then there is also Australia, Canada, Chile, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Taiwan and Thailand.

Common interests

They have a number of common interests. They have become prosperous because their economies are "market-driven". Their economies have become more and more interdependent. And their leaders have agreed that the only course towards greater prosperity is by trading some more, which is only possible if they remove all tariff barriers in the region.

Two years ago, in their first summit held in Seattle, the leaders provided the vision of a new Asia-Pacific community. Then last year, they came out with a declaration of common resolve to liberalize trade when they met for the second time in the Indonesian city of Bogor.

Here in Osaka this weekend, they are expected to come up with some sort of a game plan, and to make some "down payment" on their 1994 pledge to liberalize trade to show that they are serious about their common resolve.

The informality and the choice of the site for the retreat, as in the past, are expected to help them come to an agreement. In Seattle it was a long Indian house on Blake Island. In Bogor, it was a grand palace built during the Dutch colonial days.

Here in Osaka, it's a 16th century castle that has been destroyed, by fires and bombs and wars several times, each time only to be rebuilt again.

With the APEC gathering, it appears now that the castle is now ready to create history again.