APEC to accept new members in 1998

APEC to accept new members in 1998

By Medyatama Suryodiningrat

MANILA (JP): Ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic
Cooperation (APEC) forum yesterday settled a year-long debate
over the question of membership and announced the forum would
admit new members in 1998.

The on-going eighth APEC Joint Ministerial Meeting here
yesterday decided not to extend a three-year moratorium with the
intention of admitting a limited number of new members.

The ministers agreed to assign senior officials the task of
drawing up a set of detailed criteria for evaluating membership
applications.

The senior officials will be given a year to draft the
criteria which will then be reviewed and adopted during the next
APEC Ministerial Meeting in Vancouver in 1997.

Ministers will then use the criteria to determine new members
and announce their decision at the 10th Ministerial Meeting in
Kuala Lumpur in 1998.

Those selected will have one year to prepare themselves before
full admission in the 1999 APEC Ministerial Meeting in Auckland.

Formed in 1989, APEC originally comprised Australia, Brunei,
Canada, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, the Philippines,
Singapore, South Korea, Thailand, and the United States.

China, Hong Kong, Mexico, Papua New Guinea and Taiwan joined
soon after.

In 1994 a three-year moratorium on new members was imposed to
allow APEC to concentrate on deepening its members' commitment to
the goals of comprehensive trade liberalization.

Chile, who joined in 1994, was the last country to be
admitted.

Indonesian Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said the
importance of the matter prompted ministers to discuss it earlier
than scheduled.

"It wasn't scheduled to be discussed till tomorrow," Alatas
said after yesterday's opening day of the two-day ministerial
meeting.

He further stressed that APEC is an open and evolving process,
not a closed regional regime.

Alatas and Coordinating Minister for Production and
Distribution Hartarto headed up the Indonesian delegation to the
meeting.

Ecuador, Colombia, Macau, Mongolia, Sri Lanka, Pakistan,
Panama, Peru, Russia and Vietnam have all expressed strong
interest in joining.

Only a few are expected to meet the new criteria to be adopted
next year.

"Well, maybe only about four or five will be able to fulfill
the criteria," Alatas remarked without elaborating.

Vietnam, Peru and Russia have been touted as favorites to get
in, since the Association of Southeast Asian Nations which
comprises six APEC members has expressed support for them.

During a preceding senior officials meeting held here
Thursday, it was recommended the criteria for new members take
into account geography, the measure of economic linkages of
applicants with APEC members and the degree of interest in APEC
as demonstrated by involvement in other regional and
international groupings.

Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Rodolfo Severino
said senior officials have suggested the possibility of
prospective members submitting a shadow action plan for trade and
investment liberalization as a possible criterion.

He said however that criteria, such as geography, were too
broad and senior officials would have to define them further.