ASEAN told to move faster on free trade

By Oei Eng Goan

BANDAR SERI BEGAWAN (JP): Brunei leader Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah urged the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) yesterday to move faster in implementing free trade in the region.

To deal with growing global competition, ASEAN should quicken trade liberalization measures and tariff cuts among member countries, the sultan said while addressing the annual ASEAN foreign ministerial meeting.

He called on the ASEAN leaders to announce the completion of the ASEAN Free Trade Area (AFTA) scheme by the year 2000 instead of 2003 when they hold a summit meeting in Bangkok in December.

Latin American countries such as Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay and Uruguay were overtaking ASEAN in economic cooperation, he noted.

"AFTA's goal to achieve this by 2003 is way behind MERCOSUR," he said, referring to measures taken by the Latin American countries last January when they began to implement zero tariffs to boost their trade.

ASEAN, founded in 1967, groups Brunei, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand and Vietnam, which officially joined the organization on Friday.

Under AFTA's scheme, adopted in 1992, ASEAN countries should move to completely liberalize trade within the region, through tariff reductions, by the year 2008. ASEAN leaders have since decided to move the deadline forward to 2003.

Sultan Bolkiah also pointed out that with China and India already liberalizing their economies to attract more investments, "ASEAN countries must respond to this competition".

His address kicked off the two-day 28th ASEAN Ministerial Meeting bringing together the foreign ministers of the seven member countries. The foreign ministers of Russia and China are attending as guests while those of Laos and Cambodia are taking part as observers.

Sultan Bolkiah warned that the post Cold War honeymoon was already over, and the world is now confronted with growing friction between big countries over human rights, democracy, trade and rights of the sea and air passages that could lead to new tensions.

"Peace and stability can never be taken for granted," he stressed.

Indonesia's Minister of Foreign Affairs Ali Alatas said in his opening remarks hat despite the robust economic growth ASEAN countries had achieved over the past years, "these audacious efforts could be seriously threatened if the incentives expected from a strengthened GATT system were not forthcoming."

Alatas said ASEAN was looking forward to the first ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization next year in Singapore as a timely opportunity for the group to assess the implementation of the Uruguay trade agreement.

Thai Foreign Minister Kasem Kasemsri said that cutting the AFTA timeframe from 2003 to 2000 will not pose a problem to his country.

"We think because he (the sultan) is shifting the timetable, we have to take (the issue) into consideration. Some adjustments will have to be made," Kasem said.

The two-day meeting will be followed by talks with the foreign ministers of the United States, Canada, Japan, South Korea, Australia, New Zealand, the European Union, China and Russia. The meetings are expected to focus on security and trade issues.

Alatas also appealed yesterday to countries having overlapping territorial claims in the South China Sea to exercise self restraint, saying that failing this, the dispute could lead to a deterioration of peace and stability in the region.

China, Taiwan, Vietnam, Brunei, Malaysia and the Philippines claim all or part of the Spratly Islands in the South China Sea. Indonesia, not a party in the dispute, has hosted a series of workshops intended to encourage countries to promote cooperation in the South China Sea.