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.