APEC urged to focus on trade liberalization
APEC urged to focus on trade liberalization
JAKARTA (JP): Chile, APEC's latest member nation, asked the
forum yesterday to focus its work on trade liberalization.
"We prefer a fast pace of integration and economic
liberalization in APEC, "Chile's Economics Minister Alvaro Garcia
Hurtado told an open forum on the future direction of APEC.
Hurtado said his country is ready to meet the faster timetable
for free and open trade by 2010 as proposed by the Pacific
Business Froum.
But he acknowledged, though, that it is difficult for all APEC
members to go along at the same pace due to the different stages
of their economic development.
Speaking about the nature of free trade in the region, Hurtado
said it is essential for APEC to base its trade liberalization
process on individual, unilateral openings and not through
preferential arrangements, compulsory approaches or through
strict common binding regulations.
But he reaffirmed the urgency for APEC to define a flexible
but clear framework with both a starting point and a final
deadline to reach free trade in the region.
"The longer we take to implement this process, the greater the
risk for the emergence of managed trade schemes or preferential
sub-regional agreements, thus frustrating and weakening the goals
of APEC," Hurtado cautioned.
Issues
Speaking at the same forum, South Korean Foreign Minister Han
Sung-joo identified four issues that would affect the future of
APEC.
The issues are related to the harmonization of globalism and
regionalism in trade, the balancing of gradualism and activism,
equilibrium between depth and breadth and the synchronization of
the different processes of economic regionalism, Han added.
"Since APEC members represent about half of the world's output
and about as much of the global trade, it has a great stake in
promoting a global free trade regime," Han told the forum.
The forum, held under the central theme APEC: Where do we go
from here was organized by the Indonesian National Committee for
the Pacific Economic Cooperation Council and the Centre for
Strategic and International Studies to generate vigorous
discourses on the future direction of the forum in conjunction
with the APEC leaders meeting at Bogor today.
Han stressed the importance of APEC adopting open regionalism
and the need for its free trade principles to conform with the
global multilateral trade system under the GATT/World Trade
Organization.
"East Asia has not formed an economic bloc of its own but it
is considered to be by far the most dynamic economic area in the
world," he said, arguing against exclusive regional free trade.
Han cautioned that APEC should also be able to strike a
balance between activism and gradualism.
"If we opt for gradualism, we may miss the opportunity to act
decisively," he pointed out.
But he acknowledged that the divergent stages of economic
development of APEC members also tend to lean the forum towards
the road of gradualism.
He also saw the equilibrium between depth and breadth with
regard to membership as critical to APEC's future.
In addition, when the moratorium on new membership expires
within two years, as was decided in Seattle, APEC should look
into the question as to whether membership should be based on
geographical location and economic linkages.
"It seems to me that the answer is to be found in the
equilibrium between depth and breadth," Han added. (vin)