APEC vows to ratify GATT soon

APEC vows to ratify GATT soon

JAKARTA (JP): Members of the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC) forum yesterday asserted their commitment to speedily
ratify the results of the Uruguay Round of the General Agreement
on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) before its looming deadline.

In a joint statement following an APEC trade ministers meeting
here yesterday, the 17 members of the forum pledged to take
"maximum efforts in each of their economies to ensure the early
ratification of the World Trade Organization (WTO)."

At the end of the one-day meeting aimed at assessing the
results and implications of the GATT on the region, the ministers
believed the region would benefit greatly from the strengthened
rules and increased market access resulting from it.

Earlier yesterday President Soeharto in his opening speech
also called on APEC members to remove any impediments that would
delay the agreement's implementation.

"I would like to appeal to other APEC members to follow our
lead by seeing to it that the World Trade Organization will be
ratified as soon as possible," Soeharto said.

APEC groups Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, China,
South Korea, Taiwan, Hong Kong, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore,
the Philippines, Brunei, Papua New Guinea, Australia, New Zealand
and Indonesia which currently chairs the forum.

Of those 17 members, Australia, Brunei, Canada, China, Korea,
New Zealand, Papua New Guinea, Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand and
Indonesia were represented by their ministers at yesterday's
meeting and the others by lower ranking officials.

Minister in Charge of Trade Alvaro Garcia of Chile, which will
assume APEC membership in November, took part in yesterday's
meeting as well.

Apart from ratification, Soeharto stressed the need for APEC
members to seriously carry out their obligations and monitor the
implementation of the GATT.

The Uruguay Round of the GATT concluded in April with
countries agreeing to a new liberalized international trade
structure under the WTO to be implemented on Jan. 1, 1995.

Deputy U.S. Trade Representative Charlene Barshefsky yesterday
expressed optimism that her country would ratify the agreement
before the end of the year.

"The margin of approval of both Houses of our legislature will
be overwhelming," Barshefsky said forecasting the result of the
U.S. Congressional and Senate vote due to take place next month.

Separately, the deputy to the Japanese minister of
international trade and industry, Kazuo Majima, also revealed
that his country would ratify the agreement before the deadline.

Korean Minister of Trade, Industry and Energy Chulsu Kim said
his government had submitted the GATT agreement to the national
assembly and was now awaiting the outcome of the assembly's
winter session.

"I have every expectation that the bills will be ratified
before the end of the year," Kim said.

Indonesia's House of Representatives (DPR) is expected to
ratify the WTO next Tuesday.

Impediments

To better facilitate trade, the ministers yesterday agreed
that the forum would undertake efforts to identify key trade
impediments in the region.

They agreed that in doing so, impediments would be identified
by the sectors and types of barriers.

Philippine Under Secretary Cesar Bautista said that based on
the reports submitted by the forum's Committee on Trade and
Investment (CTI), 12 issues have been identified as the main
impediments to freer trade in the region.

However, Bautista noted that a number of issues such as
sanitary measures, anti-dumping and customs procedures "demand
serious attention."

A full report of the matter will be presented to the APEC
Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta on Nov. 11-12.

The ministers stated that to help overcome these barriers and
facilitate a more systematic and sequential approach to trade
liberalization, APEC members should improve their exchange of
information.

Thus the meeting yesterday gave resounding support for a pilot
project of an APEC Tariff Database in 1995. Should the project
prove successful, the ministers urged that it be implemented in
full.

When asked about their views on the forum's Eminent Persons
Group (EPG) report calling for free trade by the year 2020,
Indonesia's Minister of Trade Satrio Budiardjo Joedono, who
chaired the meeting, said the issue had not been discussed
thoroughly.

"We did not discuss timetables...We leave that to our
leaders," he said.

Joedono's brief answer was understandable considering that
during the opening ceremony, President Soeharto warned that such
issues would be tackled in the APEC Economic Leaders Meeting on
Nov. 15 in Bogor.

"Whether we can move ahead further in the trade and investment
liberalization among ourselves will be determined at the APEC
Economic Leaders Meeting," Soeharto said.(mds)