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.