APEC ministers set to approve nine free sectors
By Meydiatama Suryondiningrat
VANCOUVER, Canada (JP): Ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum were set yesterday to approve nine sectors to be hastened for early liberalization.
The nine sectors to be liberalized by the end of next year are: environmental goods and services; fish and fishery products; forest product; medical equipment and instruments; energy; toys; gems and jewelry; chemicals; and telecommunications.
Talks on the final list for Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization consumed much Friday's opening-day of the two-day APEC ministerial meeting.
Delegates were fine-tuning the final document prior to formally endorsing it on Saturday, before presenting it to APEC leaders who begin a meeting here Monday.
"Insya Allah (God willing), tomorrow we will have a consensus because at present, there are still some corrections for the final draft," Indonesia's Coordinating Minister for Production and Distribution Hartarto said Friday.
Hiroshi Hashimoto, spokesman for the Japanese prime minister, said more work had to be done "on the exact wording on the nature of the agreement are still being worked out."
APEC comprises Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, South Korea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
The forum has been seeking to break down trade and investment barriers by 2010 for developing countries and 2020 for developing ones.
The final list of nine sectors, described as the "A plus" list, are the core of 15 sectors on the "A list" which senior officials have trimmed down out of an initial 61 for Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization.
Hong Kong's secretary for trade and industry, Denise Yue Chung-yee, said the "A plus" list would be implemented at an accelerated pace to the other six: oilseed and oilseed products, food, automotive, civil aircraft, rubber, and fertilizer.
She noted that the "A plus" list would likely be implemented by the end of next year.
She pointed out that three sectors -- environmental goods and services, toys, and medical equipment -- gained support from 15 countries.
Hartarto also said that those included on the "A plus" list had gained the support of between 10 members to 15 members.
Hartarto expressed satisfaction that Indonesia's proposal to include the fish sector and pulp and paper, which was incorporated into forestry products, had been accepted.
Indonesia also supported the inclusion of toys, gems and jewelry, and oilseeds, but could not support automotive.
On Friday, Hartarto said that Jakarta would review the environmental, medical equipment, energy and toys sectors to see when Indonesia would be ready to participate.
"But some sectors are already quite liberalized, such as energy," he said.
Details on the implementation of Early Voluntary Sectoral Liberalization are still sketchy but Hartarto and Japan's Hashimoto have stressed on the principle of "voluntarism" in applying the mechanism.
This means that there is no obligation for APEC members to participate unless they feel ready.
"It is done voluntarily, based on the ability of the individual economies," Hartarto said.