APEC ministers adopt investment code

APEC ministers adopt investment code

JAKARTA (Agencies): Ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum yesterday adopted an investment code
after the United States dropped its earlier objections to three
of the 12-point principles only hours before the meeting began.

Although the investment principles are not binding for APEC's
18 members, U.S. officials said yesterday that they still
committed members to further liberalization.

Among its principles, the code calls on APEC members to remove
barriers to capital exports, treat foreign investors as they do
their own, deal with all nationalities on an equal basis, ensure
that procedures are transparent, guarantee repatriation of
profits, guard against expropriation and avoid double taxation.

Indonesian Coordinating Minister of Trade and Industry
Hartarto, who is chairing the APEC ministerial conference,
confirmed that the original formulation of the code had been
modified to obtain a full endorsement.

Indonesian delegates were quick to play down the significance
of the changes.

Bachrum S. Harahap, Hartarto's aide, described the revision as
relatively insignificant.

Mari Pangestu, Indonesia's coordinator of the Pacific Economic
Cooperation Council's (PECC) Trade Policy Forum, said "I think
the concessions are within the statement,"

Mari said the forum had made a commitment to continue
improving the code in the future. "I strongly believe that APEC
members expect that their documents will be upgradable."

The agreement was reached very late on Thursday by APEC's
senior officials as their ministers had dinner.

This helped pave the way for a smooth conference yesterday
morning in which ministers simply endorsed various
recommendations already hammered out by their officials.

An Indonesian delegate who followed the negotiations closely
said Washington at the last minute buckled down under various
pressures, including the press publicity which had focused on the
contention.

Changes were effected on the principles of performance
requirement and national treatment.

U.S. Trade Representative Mickey Kantor, speaking at the end
of the first day of the meeting, said the accord committed the 18
members to "ongoing efforts towards the improvement in further
liberalization of the investment regime."

Changes

The last-minute changes are "extremely helpful" and Washington
is "especially pleased that it's been made clear in two
particular areas ... there'll be continuing work on investment
issues," he said as quoted by Agence France Presse.

"This is just a beginning," Kantor said, adding that while the
investment principles were not binding, "you've got to walk
before you run.

"You're not going to break down all the barriers and get
countries to commit to binding regimes in the very short run. But
we're going to have an increasingly rapid breaking-down of
barriers over the next number of years."

Nancy Adams, assistant U.S. trade representative for APEC
affairs, conceded the United States, which had been looking for
forceful language to protect investors and augment standards to
its level, had not got its way entirely in the compromise code.

"The document itself we find acceptable. It's perhaps not as
strong as we would like in some areas," said Adams.

But, she added: "For many of these governments to say they
even aspire to this was a tough step. It was a tough call."

She said, "the whole idea is to set up something that we are
trying to work towards, creating energy and momentum."

"It still helps pull up the practices. These governments are
competing for very scarce capital." (Team).