APEC unresolved on info technology
By Meidyatama Suryodiningrat & Prapti Widinugraheni
MANILA (JP): APEC senior officials were still wrestling with an accord yesterday aimed to free trade on information technology products through the World Trade Organization (WTO).
Philippine Foreign Affairs Undersecretary Federico Macaranas said yesterday the issue would be taken up today by ministers of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) forum.
"The Joint Ministerial Meeting will be discussing the matter," he said at the end of an informal APEC senior officials meeting.
The United States is pushing the forum to adopt an information technology agreement to eliminate tariffs in this sector by the year 2000.
Supporters of this initiative argue that further intensification of technological and development cooperation would require rapid exchanges of information which could only be facilitated by liberalizing information technology.
APEC's endorsement of such an initiative would give strong political impetus for the WTO to adopt an information technology agreement.
While APEC members have expressed their general support for the liberalization of information technology, several countries have indicated their reluctance to formalize the initiative.
The Indonesian foreign ministry's director general for foreign economic relations, Sumadi Brotodiningrat, revealed yesterday that senior officials had different perceptions on how support for the initiative should be stated.
He said some countries wanted it declared within the final joint ministerial statement while others, like Indonesia, did not think it was necessary to stipulate it as an individual theme but as part of the forum's overall liberalization plan.
APEC ministers begin their eighth annual meeting here today and are expected to produce three major documents by the end of their meeting tomorrow. The documents are expected to lay down a course of trade liberalization for member states.
APEC groups Australia, Brunei, Canada, Chile, China, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Japan, Malaysia, Mexico, New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, the Philippines, Singapore, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand and the United States.
"We can accept the liberalization of information technology products in APEC," Sumadi said, adding that it should not be singled out unduly.
He said some countries wanted to place such a clause "everywhere" in the documents formulated for the ministerial meeting.
Macaranas said that apart from the actual format of the support for the initiative, APEC officials were yet to draft a statement with suitable language for China and Taiwan who are not members of the WTO.
Many economies are extremely interested in the liberalization of information technology. But the problem is that some members are still outside the WTO, which causes differences in priorities, Macaranas said.