APEC must modify itself: CSIS says

APEC must modify itself: CSIS says

The Jakarta Post, Jakarta

The current state of economic cooperation in the Asia-Pacific
region has been called into question, particularly after the
Pacific Rim leaders met last November in Santiago, but were
unable to come up with a focus on global security and the removal
of trade barriers that hamper economic growth, according to
participants at a seminar on Friday.

Jusuf Wanandi, the Indonesia Pacific Economic Cooperation
Council (PECC) chairman, said the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) was facing a big hurdle that could prevent it
from developing.

"APEC needs some modification to move forward," he said on the
sidelines of The Future of Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
seminar held by the Centre for Strategic and International
Studies (CSIS).

APEC had been focusing greatly on trade liberalization issues,
however, there are other issues that also need attention, such as
possible global financial depression and community building, said
Jusuf, who is also a member of the CSIS board of trustees.

The region should prepare to anticipate global depression as
the United States now has serious deficits in terms of trade
balance and state expenditures, he said.

APEC's top officials, including APEC Secretariat executive
director Choi Seok Young, were present to hear the input and
criticism at the seminar.

Separately, CSIS executive director Hadi Soesastro told The
Jakarta Post that one option for APEC to improve itself was by
changing its voluntary status into a binding group.

If APEC keeps its voluntary status, the grouping could still
be strengthened by creating more authority for its mechanisms and
organization, he said.

According to Hadi, the mechanisms that should be strengthened
were the three pillars of trade liberalization, trade and
investment facilities and economic and technological cooperation.

Most of the seminar speakers and participants criticized the
current state of APEC, calling it irrelevant.

Makio Miyagawa, acting director of the Japan Institute of
International Affairs, said joining APEC was like boarding a
plane without knowing where it was heading.

"One passenger wants to head to Kuala Lumpur, another wants to
go to Jakarta," he said and concluded that APEC should focus on
the prosperity of the region, not on the grouping.

Meanwhile, Gary Hawke, head of the School of Government at
Victoria University in Wellington, explained that mutual support
was important in APEC, where country members could learn from
each other.

APEC started in 1989 as a gathering to boost trade among
Pacific Rim nations, but its focus has broadened to include
security in recent years. Several APEC leaders have pointed out
that with increased acts of terrorism around the globe, business
and security have become inseparable.