ASEAN, major trade partners to hold trade talks
Zakki P. Hakim The Jakarta Post Jakarta
Trade and economic ministers of the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN) member countries plan to hold a four-day meet on Sept. 2 here to discuss ways to boost trade within the region.
The officials would also meet with their counterparts from the grouping major trading partners which include Japan, China, South Korea, India, Australia, New Zealand, European Union and the U.S. to seek ways to boost trade and accelerate economic integration.
Director General of International Cooperation at the Ministry of Industry and Trade Pos M. Hutabarat said on Wednesday that the 36th ASEAN Economic Ministers (AEM) meeting would be crucial as intra-ASEAN trade had progressed very slowly.
He pointed out that intra-ASEAN trade only accounted for 23 percent (worth about US$84 billion) of the regional grouping's total export in 2003. In 1993, when the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) concept was first introduced, the intra-regional trade accounted for 18 percent.
In comparison, intra-regional trade in the European Union accounted for 75 percent of the region's total trade, while intra-regional trade of the Mercosur reached 35 percent.
Mercosur, a South American economic group, consists of Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay, Chile and Bolivia.
Pos said the main reason behind the low trade among ASEAN members is the fact that many of them have similar resources and manufacture similar products.
Another problem is that ASEAN countries apply different standards on products, such as the size of clothes and voltage requirements for electronic products.
ASEAN leaders have warned that the potential for an integrated market of the region's 500 million people would be lost without urgent action.
The leaders, at a summit last year in Bali, pledged to streamline customs procedures and to adopt shared product standards as part of efforts to further boost trade within the region.
To make the task more manageable, they decided to press ahead in 11 "priority sectors," ranging from fisheries to aviation.
They also agreed to set up a monitoring group, to check whether members are living up to their commitments, and a dispute-settlement procedure.
According to Pos, in next week's meeting, country members would decide to focus first on several priority sectors and left the remaining for a later schedule.
Pos predicted that the meeting would likely to focus on automotive, textile, electronics, information technology, health care equipment, rubber and tourism sectors, while setting aside agriculture, fisheries, wood and air transport for future talks.
According to ASEAN secretariat data, ASEAN's export to the world increased to US$363 billion last year from $321 billion in the previous year but still lower than $387 billion in 2001.