APEC ministers to seek tariff cuts on produce

Adianto P. Simamora, The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

Trade ministers from the 21 Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) member countries will meet in Thailand next month with the main agenda of seeking ways to resolve some of the wide differences with regard to trade liberalization in the sensitive agriculture sector, a top official at the Ministry of Industry and Trade said.

Aside from this main issue, the ministers will also discuss the controversial policies proposed by the United States such as the Bioterrorism act and Secure Trade in the APEC region (STAR).

The ministerial meeting will be held from June 1 to June 3 in Khon Kaen, Thailand.

"The meeting will focus on how APEC can contribute to the WTO process in a bid to make adequate preparations for the upcoming September talks in Cancun, Mexico," Pos M. Hutabarat, director general for industry cooperation and international trade affairs at the ministry said.

Pos said that the ministerial meeting was important as it would provide a forum for both developed and developing nations to minimize their differences on a number of trade issues.

Many of the 146 member nations of the WTO have already missed several key deadlines, particularly with regard to agricultural products.

The U.S. has been leading a campaign for WTO member countries to slash their import tariffs on agricultural products, but Japan has insisted that it would maintain its tariffs, particularly on rice.

Developing countries have also demanded the developed nations to eliminate government subsidies in the agricultural sector, while countries from Europe want to maintain subsidies to protect their farmers.

Both the developed and developing countries had previously held several meetings to narrow the differences, but they failed to reach a workable agreement.

Pos said Indonesia would propose conservative tariff cuts wherein tariff reductions would be carried out in stages.

APEC was set up in November 1989 with a mission to boost regional economic cooperation and investment liberalization.

APEC now has 21 member countries comprising Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Peru, the Philippines, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, the United States and Vietnam.