APEC told not to link human rights to trade

APEC told not to link human rights to trade

JAKARTA (JP): Asian and Pacific businessmen made an appeal to
the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC), yesterday, asking
them not to link issues on human rights, labor and environmental
problems with trade and investment access in its member
countries.

The proposal was one of recommendations made during the first
meeting of the Asia-Pacific Business Network (APB Net), a newly
established business forum, which groups chambers of commerce and
industry of APEC's 18 member countries.

Other recommendations included a proposal to maintain APEC as
a loose and informal communication forum rather than as a trade
grouping.

Hussein Aminuddin, the chairman of the meeting's organizing
committee, said that APB Net also asked APEC members to implement
free trade arrangements under the principles of General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), within the existing framework.

"However, due to different stages of economies, member
countries should be allowed to freely decide when they should
fully enter the GATT principles," he said. He added that APEC
should avoid fixing an formal time framework in the
implementation of free trade and investment principles in the
region.

Aminuddin, however, said that each member country should
clearly state the period when it might be ready to fully
implement the GATT accord.

APB Net was established a few months ago to facilitate a
better regulatory environment among APEC members and for a forum
for dialogs with governments on their policies. The establishment
was proposed by the Indonesian Chamber of Commerce and Industry
(Kadin) during the meeting of APEC's Working Group on Trade
Promotion in Bali in March.

Aminuddin said that Kadin and the Australian Chamber of
Commerce and Industry (ACCI), which jointly organized the
meeting, were appointed as caretakers of the organization pending
the establishment of its chairmanship.

Lobby

He said that Asia and Pacific businessmen also made other
important proposals during the two-day meeting, both in improving
a networking mechanism of the new business forum and in
strengthening its lobby with APEC.

The recommendations related to economic issues would be
forwarded to the meeting of APEC's senior officials in Yogyakarta
in September, he said.

"We hope the senior officials' meeting will raise our
proposals during the APEC Summit in Bogor in November," he added.

In a bid to further strengthen the existence of the newly
established business forum, Aminuddin said, APB Net will hold a
meeting in Australia early next year to discuss activities of
small and medium enterprises, one of its main programs.

He said APB Net will hold its second annual meeting in Japan,
which will become the next venue of the APEC Summit.

The Asia and Pacific businessmen also discussed economic
potential in the environment, energy and infrastructure sectors
during the two-day meeting, which was attended by 150
participants.

Speakers at the meeting, officially opened by State Minister
for Investment/Chairman of the Investment Coordinating Board
(BKPM) Sanyoto Sastrowardoyo, included the president of the Japan
Foreign Trade Council, Koichiro Ejiri, the vice chairman of the
China Council for Promotion of International Trade, Liu Fungu,
the president of ACCI, Harold Clough, and Kadin's chairman,
Aburizal Bakrie.(hen)

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