ASEAN role in APEC is praised

ASEAN role in APEC is praised

JAKARTA (JP): A senior United States official yesterday
acknowledged the importance of the Association of South East
Asian Nations (ASEAN) to the Asia Pacific Economic Cooperation
(APEC), despite the association's initial wariness of the forum.

"Since APEC was founded in 1989, there has been a sense that
ASEAN is, in many ways, the core of APEC," said Sandra Kristoff,
the director for Asian Affairs at the National Security Council
(NSC).

Speaking in Washington yesterday through a Worldnet Dialogue,
Kristoff told an international audience of the significance of
ASEAN members to the success of APEC.

APEC groups Canada, the United States, Mexico, Japan, Hong
Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, Papua
New Guinea along with the six members of ASEAN -- Thailand,
Malaysia, Singapore, Brunei, Philippines and Indonesia.

Kristoff's comments came at an opportune time, during a
seeming shift on ASEAN's attitude from cautiousness to a more
welcoming stance towards the forum.

When APEC was first established in Canberra in 1989, ASEAN
adopted a cautious stance towards the forum.

The concerns were affirmed when ASEAN ministers met in
Malaysia the following year and declared a common understanding
insisting APEC to remain a loose consultative forum.

At that point, ASEAN members obviously feared that the
delicate trust and cohesiveness carefully built among its members
would be diluted by APEC.

Kristoff, however, remarked yesterday that ASEAN would have
much to gain through APEC.

"I think APEC will help ASEAN realize its economic potential,"
she said.

As a presidential advisor on APEC economic issues, Kristoff
led the U.S. delegation at the recent APEC Senior Officials
Meeting (SOM) in Yogyakarta, which outlined a draft agenda for
the forum's upcoming Ministerial Meeting in Jakarta on Nov. 11-
12.

Effectiveness

Responding to questions from panelists in Tokyo, Seoul,
Bangkok and Manila, Kristoff noted the effectiveness of ASEAN as
a group since its formation in 1967. She said the initial premise
of ASEAN's central role in APEC still holds true today if not
even more so.

The other non-ASEAN member countries in APEC "pay close
attention to ASEAN's views," she said.

When queried on the U.S. position on the Malaysian-sponsored
East Asian Economic Caucus (EAEC), Kristoff brushed aside the
subject arguing that it was not the optimum instrument to achieve
the common goals of APEC members.

"We continue to think that APEC is the proper, appropriate and
best vehicle for advancing economic development in the region,"
she said.

She also denied that the swift pace at which APEC is
progressing is due to U.S. influence. "I don't think that the
United States is making APEC go faster than it is willing to
move."

Describing the goals for the upcoming meeting in Jakarta,
Kristoff revealed that the United States would like to see an
endorsement of the trade and investment agenda recently drafted
by the SOM.

Though she says no detailed program for trade liberalization
has been established, the SOM drafted a number of proposal and
working groups to facilitate the lowering of trade barriers.

She added that the United States would also like the APEC
leaders meeting in Bogor, West Java, on Nov. 15 to build on the
momentum of the inaugural leaders meeting on Blake Island,
Seattle, last year.

The Bogor meeting should give a "shot in the arm" of political
will to APEC, she said.(mds)