ASEAN on track for single market

ASEAN on track for single market

Agence France-Presse, Phnom Penh

Southeast Asian trade ministers this week wrapped up talks in
the Cambodian capital a step closer to forging a single market
and confident poor nations will be heard in upcoming WTO talks.

The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) ministers
left Phnom Penh after paying a courtesy visit late on Thursday on
King Norodom Sihanouk, whose country hosted the ministerial
meetings ahead of its official induction into the World Trade
Organization (WTO) next week.

The ministers vowed to protect the interests of developing
nations going into the WTO talks in Cancun and pledged support
for Australia's fight to dismantle barriers in agricultural
trade.

They underscored the importance of moving forward with the
mandate of the Doha round two years ago, when trade ministers
from around the world agreed to phase out export subsidies in
agriculture.

Negotiations over the issue have stalled, however, and ASEAN
ministers said they hope the Cancun meeting will serve the needs
of the developing nations.

Filipino trade secretary Manuel Roxas told AFP in an earlier
interview on the sidelines of the meeting that "we discussed
particularly the very important areas in agriculture and non-
agriculture market access."

A key development during the meeting was an alliance ASEAN
struck with Australia, who as a member of the pro-farm reform
Cairns Group of countries, has threatened to walk out of the WTO
talks if no real substantive progress is made.

"All wee seek is the implementation of the mandate that came
out of Doha. That is, that there are no other issues to be
brought in on the agenda that weren't agreed to in Doha,"
Australian Trade Minister Mark Vaile said.

ASEAN in response said members agreed that the Cancun talks
should focus on "how best to ensure a successful conference and
keep the Doha round negotiations on track."

Trade ministers from the region also agreed to speed up
economic integration ahead of an envisioned ASEAN economic
community (AEC) or common market by the year 2020, where tariffs
would be eliminated and where capital and investments could move
freely.

To speed up its creation, the ministers agreed to set up an
effective dispute settlement body by next year and to speed up
integration of 11 priority sectors.

Progress was also noted in free trade agreements (FTA) being
negotiated with key partners China and Japan, with the ministers
agreeing to endorse a draft framework with Tokyo for ASEAN
leaders in their annual summit in Bali next month.

Once in place in 2010, the ASEAN-China FTA will create a
market of 1.7 billion consumers with a combined gross domestic
product of US$2.0 trillion and total trade of $1.23 trillion.

ASEAN groups Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia,
Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam.