ASEAN admits trade talks hit troubles

ASEAN admits trade talks hit troubles

Elisia Yeo, Agence France-Presse/Kuala Lumpur

Negotiations over a raft of free-trade deals between Southeast
Asia and its neighbors have run into problems, but the region
remains committed to striking deals, a top official said on
Saturday.

"Not all of them are moving along satisfactorily as we would
like to see," Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)
chief Ong Keng Yong said at a business forum on the sidelines of
the bloc's annual summit.

Ong said that deals with China, India, Japan, South Korea,
Australia and New Zealand had hit difficulties over reaching
common standards, as well as balancing the interests of different
business lobbies.

"We are carrying on our negotiations with China on trade and
services and investment groups," he said of the ASEAN-China free
trade agreement, which is targeted to be struck by 2010.

"For Korea, we have moved forward, although there are still
some difficulties," he said.

"For Australia and New Zealand, we have intensified our
negotiations and there are various activities ongoing which will
be facilitating" discussion.

With the economies of regional heavyweights Japan and India,
Ong indicated discussions were tough.

"We are undergoing very hard negotiations but we believe we
should be able to come up with something satisfactory that is
good," he said, without elaborating.

The ASEAN chief said that despite the hurdles, it was vital
that the free-trade agreements (FTAs) were reached.

Underlining the difficulties, Thailand on Friday refused to
sign a trade agreement between South Korea and ASEAN, baulking at
Seouls insistence that rice be protected from tariff cuts.

Ong said that ASEAN was still optimistic that the two sides
will come to an agreement on the trade accord, which is a
precursor to a full FTA.

Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi deflected
criticisms that the array of free-trade agreements being thrashed
out in the region could undermine global talks under the aegis of
the World Trade Organization (WTO).

"It has no intention to replace the WTO but it will be like
building blocks towards a global kind of FTA," he said at the
business forum.

Abdullah said the ASEAN agreements were not aimed at shutting
out other countries, but at staying competitive in the face of
the economic powerhouses of China and India.

"It should be welcome news to all international traders that
regional integration within Asia will not create barriers to
trade with the rest of the world," he said.

Abdullah said that a study investigating the potential for a
giant East Asian free-trade area embracing the 10-member ASEAN
and its "plus three" partners, China, Japan and South Korea, was
making good progress. "I believe it should become a reality," he
said.